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Pearl Jam donation strikes a chord against hunger in Delavan

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Photo by Terry Mayer

Kelly Moralez of the Wileman Parent Advisory Committee helps pack food to be sent home with some of the Delavan elementary school’s students last weekend. The food effort is organized through Blessings in a Backpack and funded by a $50,000 three-year grant from rock band Pearl Jam.

DELAVAN — Thanks to the efforts of a band many of their parents may have grown up listening to, needy students at Wileman Elementary School won’t be going home hungry on Fridays.

(Read all of this week's stories from Walworth County Sunday HERE. )

Alpine Valley Music Theatre near East Troy was one stop on Pearl Jam’s 20th anniversary tour this past Labor Day weekend. The Seattle-based, alternative rock band chose three charities -- Milwaukee Riverkeeper, Blessings in a Backpack and Wisconsin Voices -- to split $2 from every ticket sold at its concert.

It just so happens that the Mark Campana, co-president of North American Concerts at Live Nation, the company that runs Alpine Valley’s amphitheater, is a board member for Blessings in a Backpack and saw a need in Delavan, and the band followed through via its charitable efforts.

That’s because 63 percent of the more than 2,500 students in the Delavan-Darien School District are eligible for the federal free or reduced-cost lunch program, a statistic that has more than doubled since 2001.

At Wileman Elementary, that’s about 240 children, or nearly 75 percent of the student body in the 4-year-old kindergarten through fifth-grade school.

So, the school recently received a grant of $50,000 through the band’s charitable Vitalogy Foundation and the nonprofit Blessings in a Backpack organization.

“We were overwhelmed to be selected for this grant,” Wileman Principal Deborah Maki said. “It fills such a need in our school and in our community. We are very thankful to have a connection with this organization and Pearl Jam.”

Jon Reens is a senior director of marketing for Live Nation, concentrating on a six-state area that includes Wisconsin and Illinois. Reens said that the Alpine Valley visit was meant to be a multifaceted celebration.

The backpack program will go on for three years, Reens said. In addition, the band has an old 1940s school desk that all members have autographed. They’ll be auctioning it off May 5 at the Kentucky Derby and the funds raised will go back into the Blessings in a Backpack program.

Read full story HERE.

This story was corrected to include the proper title of Mark Campana and the location of the charity auction.