WFU student club hosts festival to benefit Carolina Donor Services

Held in honor of former DAC member and Wake Forest junior Margaret (Meg) Hudson, who died this past fall from a rare heart and lung condition, the festival will raise funds for Carolina Donor Services, a North Carolina non-profit organ procurement organization. “Part of our mission is to make people aware of hidden disabilities, like the one Meg had, and since Meg was a member of our organization, we felt like this was a good way to honor her and her life,” said Deanna Lepore, Wake Forest junior and festival coordinator.

The festival will run from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. It will include an art show, a silent auction, a concert and a reading of Maya Angelou’s poetry. Angelou is Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest.

The gallery show will kick off the event at 5 p.m. in Beethoven Gallery next to Brendle Recital Hall in Scales Fine Arts Center. Admission is free, and light refreshments will be served. Students, faculty and guest artists will exhibit artwork. Several pieces will then be auctioned off at a silent auction. All proceeds will go to Carolina Donor Services.

At 7 p.m., a concert featuring a variety of musical groups and a poetry reading will be held in Brendle Recital Hall. Admission to the concert is $3. All proceeds will go to Carolina Donor Services. Additional donations will also be accepted throughout the evening.

The concert will include performances by The UNC Walk-Ons, an a cappella group from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Brazilian guitar music by Wake Forest senior Christopher Seal; piano music by Alexis Rejeski, a Wake Forest junior and friend of Hudson; an original vocal and guitar performance by Heather Edwards, a Wake Forest senior and also one of Hudson’s friends; and a reading of a selection of Angelou’s poetry.

The DAC is a student club at Wake Forest whose purpose is to increase awareness of physical, intellectual and sensory disabilities throughout the Wake Forest community and its surrounding areas through information, educational events, advocacy projects and services.

Carolina Donor Services’ goal is to save and improve lives by increasing organ and tissue donation for the 6.1 million people in 79 counties of North Carolina and Danville, Va., they serve. They not only coordinate educational programs for both the public and professionals on the need for organ donation, but they also manage the entire organ and tissue donation process.

For more information about the festival, contact Deanna Lepore at 336-758-8650. For information about Carolina Donor Services, visit www.carolinadonorservices.org.