Route 66 reunites in benefit for Haiti mission

Route 66 reunites in benefit for Haiti mission

A cappella group will band together for one final show

Music for a cause will be returning to Charles City on Friday at the Homes for Haiti Benefit, this Friday at the Trinity United Methodist Church. The night, which kicks off at 7 p.m., features a capella group Route 66 reuniting after 15 years to help raise money for the church mission group.

“It’s a free-will donation with proceeds going to Homes for Haiti,” said mission group member Sue Ayers. “We are just absolutely excited.”

Members head to Haiti in January for a construction and medical mission, building a secondary orphanage school and providing 26 kits worth of tools and medication to the area. The group will be carrying 500 doses of worm medication alone for children, Ayers said, with between two to 3 thousand antibiotics repackaged by members to be delivered in proper dosages.

“They’re not going to have to wait to get treatments. We even figured antibiotics for little kids, with a disposable teaspoon. They’ll be able to accurately dose their children,” Ayers said.

The benefit started with Route 66 member Andy Aird, who heard the group’s story at church.

“It just triggered something with me. What if I could get the guys back together and put on the concert?” Aird said. “Not only get our group back together to sing one last time, but for the purpose to raise money for the mission in Haiti.”

His band members –– Galen Roberts, John Simon, Med Lewis and Bruce Carr –– jumped in. As well as a free will offering for the event, Route 66 will be selling CDs of a 1992 live performance at the NIACC auditorium.

The group started in 1989 and became known for their doo-wop style covers of popular music like “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and “My Girl”, some of which will be resurrected in Friday’s performance. Until the group disbanded in April 2000, they performed with and opened for musicians like Tom Jones, Roy Clark & Glen Campbell and the Oak Ridge Boys throughout the years.

“We’ve been baring down for the last month to get some of the old tunes in order,” Aird said. “We’re going to be doing some crowd favorites, as well as other well-known songs.”

They won’t be the only musicians present, either: musician Sam Crosser will be performing before the show officially opens at 7 p.m., and musicians from Endless Summer and NovaJazz will make appearances throughout the night.

“We’d love to raise as much money as we can for a very worthwhile mission,” Aird said. “We got back together to do this concert for this mission.”

By Kate Hayden khayden@charlescitypress.com