A crowd of students, locals, musicians, and budding philanthropists gathered in East City Park last weekend to listen to music, enjoy the atmosphere and most of all, to help cure wendigo at the Concert for Compassion.
The benefit concert, which was held in Moscow for the first time Aug. 15 at East City Park, was sponsored by Curing Wendigo, a nonprofit organization founded by University of Idaho junior Tristen Beaudoin.
Beaudoin said the name of his charity, which was derived from a Cree Native American word, was inspired by the documentary “I Am.”
“Wendigo is a word for the mental illness of greed,” he said. “It translates literally to “cannibalism” but it”s described as a cannibalism of the soul and not the flesh––you steal life from others to fulfill your own.”
David Betts | Argonaut
The band Clearwater perfromed at the Concert for Compassion Saturday, Aug. 15. The event was organized by University of Idaho junior, Tristen Beaudoin, and sponsored by nonprofit organization Curing Wendigo.
“Basically, we try to raise awareness about what”s going on in developing nations,” he said. “We raise money here that we send to charities doing work on the ground.”Beaudoin said he aims to uphold the idea of the charity, that this greed or “wendigo” can be cured with compassion, by encouraging and facilitating international and humanitarian philanthropy.
Curing Wendigo supports three international charities––Charity Water, Planting Peace, and Action Against Hunger.
Beaudoin said he decided to start the charity when he first became a student at UI and received a full-ride scholarship that covered his tuition and living expenses.
“I had been saving money for college when I found out that I would be getting a scholarship,” he said. “I decided since I didn”t need the money I had saved for myself, I should do something good with it instead.”
The idea for the concert, Beaudoin said, came when he was having trouble coming up with enough money to sponsor a Charity Water project in Ethiopia after first establishing Curing Wendigo.
“I had saved up about $2,000 for college, but a water project costs $6,000,” he said. “A couple of businesses said they would match me the money if I advertised their companies so I decided to host a concert as a way to do that.”
This year the concert, which featured local artists such as Luciano Marazzo, Charcoal Squids, Mother Yeti and The Hitmen, raised a total of $7,866 through sponsorships and local donations.
Beaudoin said of the money raised, $6,000 will go to Water Charity to sponsor another water project while over $800 will be donated to both Planting Peace, which helps rid the impoverished of parasitic worms, and Action Against Hunger, a charity that feeds malnourished children.
Tye Dye Everything owner Arlene Falcon was among the businesses that donated their services as a means of supporting the cause.
“When Tristen first came up with the idea, he asked me to donate my services,” she said. “I was really interested, I liked the concept of making people think about what we do without money and alternative ways to spend it, so I agreed.”
Falcon said the concert featured a number of talented musicians, and that while the overall event was a success, she hopes to see a bigger turnout in years to come.
“We have so much and so many people in the world have so little,” she said. “My biggest hope for next year is that we produce a bigger concert to keep spreading awareness.”
Beaudoin said Curing Wendigo will continue to host the Concert for Compassion not only to raise money for international charities, but also to spread awareness of global problems.
“Our primary goal is to raise money for our future charities,” he said. “But I also want to raise awareness for the severity of poverty that exists in other countries.”
Beaudoin said a part of that awareness is recognizing the ways in which small decisions can add up over time to make profoundly positive impacts.
“That”s why it”s Curing Wendigo, because I think we”re all guilty of being greedy without knowing it,” he said. “We go out and want our daily coffee and drive around town using gas, but we don”t understand that if we save five dollars a day we could save 500 lives from parasitic worms or feed a child over time “¦ those little things could go to better use and that”s the main idea we want to spread with our concerts.”
Corrin Bond can be reached at [email protected]