33500
With your help, we raised over $35,000
Sing Out for Shelter Performers
Your host, and organizer for the past 32 years, The Augmented Eight is a men’s a cappella group that has entertained Washington audiences for over 65 years with a blend of old standards, modern pop, jazz, show tunes, and the occasional surprise.
In 1981, seven Yale students came together to form the university’s first and only all-senior women’s a cappella group. Now, Whim ‘n Rhythm is a nonprofit organization composed of thirteen of Yale’s best senior soprano-alto singers. Since its founding, the members of Whim ‘n Rhythm have recorded professional studio albums and traveled to every continent to share their talent and love of singing with audiences around the world.
Our Surprise Special Guest Group is one of America’s best-loved collegiate a cappella groups, performing nationally and internationally for audiences of all kinds. Don’t you want to find out who?
The Gracenotes are the Maret School’s only student-led, soprano-alto a cappella group. They sing popular music, arranged for voices by the high school singers themselves, and perform all over the D.C. metro area.
The Augmented 8 is pleased to have Ed Spitzberg as our Emcee/Person of Ceremonies (stepping into that role when CNN’s Jim Sciutto, who it won’t surprise anyone to hear has a Day Job, was forced by said position to withdraw). Ed (who, while also having a day job, is not Jim Sciutto) has at least a Quadruple Connection to tonight’s event.
Connection 1, Ed is professionally a Leader in the Nonprofit Community. He is the Founder and Principal of Spitzberg Advisors, a strategic advisory firm serving nonprofits organizations and leaders, providing leadership advisory and coaching, board development, transition planning, fundraising planning, program development, retreat facilitation, and strategic planning, with a particular expertise in youth development and the arts. Among other nonprofit executive positions, Ed has direct experience as Executive Director of nonprofit organizations, including the multidisciplinary arts education program Sitar Arts Center, serving young people from low-income families and winning the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities’ National Arts and Humanities Youth Program award under his tenure. He also currently serves on the board of the Yale Alumni Nonprofit Alliance. He does much of this work with CNN on in the background, often with Jim Sciutto saying smart things that Ed hears.
Connection 2, Ed is a distinguished writer and performer in his own right. Over the past quarter century, his “Eddie Lounge” (not Jimmy Scuitto Lounge) show played at, among other venues, Harrah’s Las Vegas, Faz San Francisco, and locally, Arena Stage at 14th & T, AMP by Strathmore, and the tenth Capital Fringe Festival, winning “Best Overall Show” for that last one.
Connections 3 and 4, closely-related to Connection 2, Ed was a Whiffenpoof while attending Yale in the ‘90s, and a member of the Augmented 8 for a great but too-short tenure in the 2010s.
We’re lucky to have him with us!
Concert Beneficiaries:
Christ House is a 24-hour medical respite facility for men experiencing homelessness in Washington, D.C. For nearly 40 years, Christ House has provided comprehensive and compassionate care for patients who arrive from hospitals, shelters, clinics, and medical outreach initiatives with acute and complex medical needs. Last year, we welcomed over 200 patient admissions and 100% of patients had 3 or more health challenges. In addition to medical care, our patients receive shelter, nutritious meals, case management, substance use counseling, and opportunities to participate in patient activities. Our goal is that patients will leave Christ House with their medical needs stabilized and with the education or tools needed to manage their health conditions. The further goal is that the physical, mental, and emotional improvements experienced at Christ House will allow our patients to break the cycle of homelessness. For additional information, please visit our website at www.christhouse.org
Friendship Place is a leading housing service provider for people experiencing homelessness in the DC region. Our innovative, customized, person-focused programs empower participants to rebuild their lives, find homes, get jobs and reconnect with friends, family and the community, permanently.
Friendship Place’s mission is to empower people experiencing or at risk of homelessness to attain stable housing and rebuild their lives. Our vision is a DC region and a nation in which every person has a place to call “home.”
Programs include street outreach, medical services, job placement, case management, transitional shelter, permanent supportive housing, and specialized services for Veterans and their families.
Last year, nearly 5,000 of our neighbors—families, LGBTQ+ youth, seniors, and veterans—overcame homelessness or remained safely housed with the help of you and Friendship Place.
Friendship Place provides essential services that help people rebuild their lives. Through education and advocacy, we also engage with the root causes of homelessness, including racism, in order to end homelessness for good.
For further information: Please call 202-957-7834; or visit www.friendshipplace.org
In addition to offering hot meals to thousands of people around the DMV through the “Campus Kitchen,” funds raised through “Sing Out For Shelter” will support the Food Recovery Ministry that is part of St. Luke’s Mission Center and provides meals to Friendship Place programs, homeless living on the street, and other feeding centers throughout the city. For more information, visit www.NationalChurch.org.
All of the beneficiaries of SOS are 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations, and each will receive one-third (1/3) of the value of each ticket or donation. Your contribution above the amount of any value you receive will be exempt from federal income taxation.
© 2024
The Washington Society for Close Harmony Singing, Inc.
T/A The Augmented 8
A 501(c)(3) charitable organization chartered in Washington, DC.