PERFORMING FOR A CAUSE HARDING STUDENTS PERFORM ZION CLIMBING CENTER BENEFIT CONCERT WORDS Audra Shumaker I I PHOTOS A bby Tran In spring 2017, junior Sawyer Jones and sophomores Jon Mark Brasher and Harper Wagner came together to play music, calling their band Sawyer's .Mill. The band met over the summer and recorded a few original songs. During the fall emester, Sa yer' Mill played a benefit concert at Zion Climbing Center on Sept. 22, 2017. All the proceeds went to a church in Texas after the effects of Hurricane Harvey, which hit Texas on Aug. 25-29, 2017. "It wasn't our original plan to have a benefit concert, but after seeing the damage of hurricanes, we felt like that was a great way to help some people out and also help us get our music out," Jones said. "\Ve didn't raise a ton of money, but every little bit counts and we had a whole lot of fun doing it." Th band was blown away by the amount of people that came to tl1e show and the support from the community. According to Jones, mey were all very nervous before the show and had no idea what to expect. "I told myself that if 50 people showed up it would be a success, I wasn't going to have any expectations because I didn't want to let myself down," Brasher said. Over 200 people attended the concert. According to Wagner, the turnout exceeded their expectations and made the experience much better both for the band and for me crowd. Senior fackenzie Peters, a volunteer at Zion, commenced on the concert, calling it a way to connect Zion to earcy. "Community is Zion's biggest [focus]," Peters said. " We're always trying to build and encourage me community around us to mrive. We strive to be a place to be a place where ideas can be shared, friendships can be made and God can be glorified." Peters also praised the band members of Sawyer's Mill for donating ilie proceeds to the hurricane relief. "The fact that mey put all of the proceeds toward the hurricane relief effort was so inspiring and i exactly the kind of love and support we hope to cultivate through our avenue," Peters said. Over the course of me year, the band also played at other local events like Searcy Beats and Eats, Relay for Life and social club functions. The band looked forward to playing more mroughout ilieir time at Harding and becoming more comfortable performing. I The band Sawyer's Mill, comprised of freshman Tanner Chessman, sophomore Harper Wagner, sophomore Jon Mark Brasher and junior Sawyer Jones, perform at Zion Climbing Center on Dec.15, 2017. Sawyer's Mill decided to perform at Zion Climbing Center to help aid Texas communities that were impacted by Hurricane Harvey in August 2017 // Photo courtesy of Abby Tran (_ C z 6 :0 "Tl rn ~ C :0 rn
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