A campus-wide benefit concert to raise money toward aiding the victims of Hurricane Katrina… A campus-wide benefit concert to raise money toward aiding the victims of Hurricane Katrina will be held tonight at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the William Pitt Union Box Office for $5 and will also be available at the door.

The “Katrina Benefit Concert,” organized by Pitt’s Student Government Board, will feature Some of God’s Children Gospel Choir, The Pitt Pendulums, Sounds of Pleasure, several dance ensembles, Pitt Marching Band, Women’s Choral Ensemble, the University of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and other groups.

Although several Pitt organizations have acted in response to the catastrophe that ravaged the Gulf Coast, the Katrina Benefit Concert signifies a special unity among campus and community groups. The Pitt Program Council, University Police, the Department of Music and Soldiers and Sailors Memorial have all donated services to support the benefit concert.

The diversity of the various performing groups should make for an interesting program. The Pitt Pendulums, a small, co-ed a cappella group and Sounds of Pleasure, a female a cappella group, will perform songs from a variety of genres, including hip-hop.

The Women’s Choral Ensemble, open to all women of the University community, boasts a repertoire ranging from secular classics to show tunes. The vocal sounds produced by the various choral groups will contrast with the grandiose instrumental sound produced by the Pitt Marching Band and University of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. To sate the visual senses, various dance ensembles will perform high-energy numbers guaranteed to entertain.

The benefit concert will be a poignant event. Honored guests at the concert will be transfer students from Tulane and evacuees living in Pittsburgh. Although they have suffered greatly, the victims will become witnesses to the giving and compassionate spirit of other human beings.

Many students have devoted countless hours to prepare for the Katrina Benefit Concert. Anne Pavlick, a member of the Pitt Pendulums, commented, “I think [the Katrina Benefit Concert] is a really good idea, not only to expose Pitt students to the performing arts, but also in raising money for the victims.”

Nearly a month after Hurricane Katrina ravaged parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, many storm survivors are struggling to cope both mentally and physically with the hardships they now face. Images of lifeless bodies strewn throughout city streets haunt victims. Unsanitary conditions, caused by broken levees and scattered debris, are widespread and of great cause for concern. As sleeplessness, anxiety and domestic violence escalate in badly hit areas, the need for aid becomes more urgent than ever.