Old Town's Lee Center Hosts Bluegrass Benefit

Old Town, Alexandria's Nannie J. Lee Memorial Recreation Center is hosting a tribute to bluegrass legend Hazel Dickens on Friday as a fundraiser to benefit a program that distributes musical instruments to needy children.

The program, Hungry for Music, is helping Old Town's Lee Center start an after-school music program for underserved children in Alexandria.

"We provide musical instruments for kids whose parents can't afford to rent them and help groups start programs," said Jeff Campbell, who founded Hungry for Music in 1994. "There's very often enthusiastic instructors but they don't have the instruments to teach the kids."

He said there's a big benefit in introducing music to kids, including helping them with discipline and time management.

Campbell's program plans to donate a piano and saxophone as well as some percussion and brass instruments to the Lee Center.

Takoma Park, Md.-based Hungry for Music plans to work more closely with Alexandria's Lee Center by hosting a series of events there, according to Campell, who added that the Lee Center's Richard Kauffman auditorium is an "excellent but underused" venue.

On Friday, West Virginian Dickens, 75, will take the stage along with 10 local bluegrass acts.

Event co-sponsors are the  Alexandria City Community Theater and the D.C. Bluegrass Union.

Performances begin at 8 p.m. Cost for the fundraiser is $20 per ticket. Tickets may be purchased online at www.hungryformusic.org, but must be picked up at the event.