By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
If the tent raised behind Woodlawn United Methodist Church on Thursday is an indication of the expectations for Saturday’s benefit concert and barbecue, those expectations must be huge.
Volunteers raised the massive 60-feet-by-180-feet structure for the church’s Concert on the Green which features the John Glenn High School Steel Drum Band and the Bucyrus men’s chorus, United In Harmony, as well as an appearance by Cleveland Browns great Don Cockroft.
Bill Denton explains why the Alpha Recovery 12-Step Program was selected as the event’s beneficiary.
“The reason we settled on Alpha was number one they have no employees, in fact they put money into the program,” Denton said. “Number two, they actually go into the jails and prisons and work with them there. Most importantly they have a 50-percent success rate.”
Last year’s inaugural event raised about $7,000 for the Alpha program run by Margie Maddox and her husband John. The Alpha Recovery 12-Step Program, a non-denominational, Christian-based program working to successfully reintegrate individuals recovering from drug or alcohol addiction. That first concert and barbecue attracted nearly 800 people. Denton said on Thursday they have already pre-sold about 1,300 tickets for Saturday’s sequel.
The John Glenn band is a 20-piece group with an expansive repertoire of music that covers several genres of rock-and-roll, reggae and Calypso.
“I was looking for a group and they were referred to me,” Denton said. “I contacted them and they were excited about the opportunity to come up here and play for us.”
United In Harmony is a well-known local a capella group that has performed the National Anthem at Progressive Field for a Cleveland Indians game. On Saturday they will be performing a mix of patriotic numbers, Broadway show tunes, spiritual, doo-wop and, in keeping with the Caribbean sound of the John Glenn Steel Drums, the group’s own versions of such popular numbers as “The Sloop John B”.
Another addition to this year’s evening of food and music is the Browns’ Don Cockroft.
“When he found out what the event was about, the fact we were doing this to help the Alpha program fight drugs, he was glad to come,” Denton said.
Cockroft recently wrote the book The 1980 Kardiac Kids – Our Untold Stories which has become a Cleveland Browns classic, He will be on hand to personally autograph any book purchases that attendees may wish to make.
A silent auction will include a Joe Haden autographed helmet, a Brian Hoyer autographed football and an Ohio State University Archie Griffin autographed football.
Although tickets have been sold prior to the event, walk-ups are welcome. Food will be served beginning at 5 p.m., with the John Glenn band on stage at 6 and United In Harmony at 7:30. Prices are $8 for adults, $5 for children ages 3 through 11 and children under 3 are free.