COLUMBUS (WCMH) — On a Saturday afternoon in a quiet Columbus neighborhood, the silence suddenly broke as a blue truck, with a musician perched in the pickup bed, parked alongside a curb to offer hope to a family in need.
“We lost our dad, my dad, earlier in the week,” said Regina Prince through tears. “He passed away last Sunday. He’s been battling cancer for 21 years now and so he passed and it’s been really hard especially with the coronavirus we couldn’t really gather with loved ones and friends the way we would like to.”
Prince’s neighbor, Jen Gable, wanted to do something to show the Prince family they have a community despite the isolation of social distancing.
“I know Regina and her family are going through a difficult time,” Gable said. “I was just asking myself what I could do from a distance to support them?”
Instead of baking a casserole or sending flowers, Gable gave her neighbor the gift of music.
She signed up to give Prince and her family a “Curbside Concert” through the Can’t Stop Columbus volunteer group. On Saturday afternoon, musician Will Freed and other volunteers rolled in to bring songs, smiles and dancing to the Prince’s driveway.
“I thought it would be a person, a guitar and then we sit on the curb!” Regina said, surprised at the production and overwhelmed with the emotion that came from the performance. “I’m glad we all could be here.”
Can’t Stop Columbus began with senior citizens in mind when the volunteers now running the project recognized the oldest generation was being isolated due to the COVID-19 crisis.
“I think it gives people a little hope that the world is going to continue on one day,” said Freed, who has been a performer for the Curbside Concerts project since it got underway. “You can convey a feeling, an emotion and an idea at the same time. You can let people know how you feel and make them feel something.”
To send a concert, go online to the Curbside Concert website and make a request. Every request can include a personalized message, which the performer will read aloud to the recipient.
“Nothing beats the warmth of human connection.” said Jordan Davis, the co-founder of Can’t Stop Columbus. “If we can’t be physically together, what better way than to send a live song to convey that? It’s a sense of humanity that I feel we’re missing right now.”
It’s not just the recipient who has been thankful for the performance, but entire neighborhoods.
“This is a really emotionally rewarding gig because the people are so in need of it,” said Freed. “They’re bored or they’re scared and a lot of the people that we are playing for are older so they definitely can’t come out of their houses. They come to the windows. They come to the door. We’ve had people sobbing, crying. Just thankful.”
As the music starts, people come out of their homes or open their up windows while singing along, which has been the true gift the project has given.
“The intention is to bridge a connection between two people and to address any degree of loneliness that someone might be feeling,” said Davis. “It’s a beautiful thing watching this sense of joy take part on a street.”
As Freed began to sing The Beatles’ “Come Together,” Prince saw her neighbors doing exactly that — coming together through song and dance.
“This is amazing!” Prince exclaimed. “Obviously the whole neighborhood got to enjoy it too. Even though we couldn’t be around each other, it’s still nice to come together.”
If you want to send a Curbside Concert to a loved one, go to: www.sendaconcert.com.
For more information on Can’t Stop Columbus, head to: www.cantstopcolumbus.com
