On Tuesday, November 13, I attended the Statewide Homeless Awareness Conference in Honolulu. It was all made possible by our first music video, Singing to the World. A writer from The Huffington Post became aware of our songs and asked if we could write and perform a song about homelessness. The students and I were honored to take on this project. It was because of the article published on The Huffington Post about Dream What Could Be Done, that Holly Holowach, the woman in charge of the entire conference on homelessness, invited me to speak and share our video.
It was a huge honor to be able to share our message with so many others dedicated to the same cause--I could really feel the emotion in the room as people were watching the video. I also shared some of what the students from the Lanaʻi Class of 2020 had to say on homelessness, and here are some of my favorite quotes:
"In the future I will stand up and talk to one city, two cities, three cities, or four cities. I don't care how many cities I go to. I only care about changing the world." --Mika Badillo
"I think everyone should have a home and a family. People in other parts of the world are hungry and eat from garbage cans, and drink dirty, polluted water. These people deserve fresh water and good food. They deserve it from the second they were homeless and hungry. It's not their fault.”
--Lauren Campbell
"What I know about some homeless people is that they talk to themselves sometimes, and that is because they don't have people to talk to." --Kishia Sigrah
I also had a table in the lobby where I sold CDs and DVDs, and I'm happy to report that I sold out of both--and was able to donate 25% of the proceeds back to Partners in Care, one of the organizations at the conference.
Which brings me to this announcement: Our DVDs have finally been finished! Included on the DVD are all ten music videos by the Lanaʻi Class of 2020 and several other bonus features. Thanks to Travis Turqueza (parent from the Class of 2020) for the front cover design, and helping to creatively put the students artwork together for the back cover.
Because of the recent accomplishments of the Lanaʻi Class of 2020, we have also been featured in several Lanai Today issues. Thanks to author Alberta De Jetley for the continuing support. Featured below are the different articles (click on the image to enlarge if you would like to see the text at a larger size):
Awesome that this project is getting so much attention. Thanks Matt, Class of 2020 student and all of the teachers and parents for your hard work and continuation of this wonderful project. I think it's amazing how a single class poetry project mushroomed into this great achievement. and it seems to keep on growing. I hope it continues to flourish at least until the Class of 2020 graduates. I think the creative arts are so important to the development of the whole child. Mahalo.
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