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Every now and then, when cosmic bodies align just so and Santa Anas cloak the breeze with their curious desert magic, a person finds their calling in that charmed place where talent, passion, opportunity, and goodwill meet.
Such was the case for Hector Malvido and Luis Lopez, two of the co-founders behind Project Donate, “a nonprofit for nonprofits.”
Their mission is simple: to support local charities by curating local bands and DJs for fundraising events.
Charities get the increased draw of live entertainment, musicians gain exposure, and everybody goes home happy.
“It’s important that we help the community but also help the people who are helping us,” says Malvido, an Eastlake High School alumnus who now works alongside Lopez at their alma mater as an AVID college prep tutor.
“We want to give people an incentive to go to charity events and also an incentive to see bands. Why wouldn’t anybody go? They’re going to have a great time and help a good cause. And I think that’s really important for the San Diego community. We need to increase the awareness of the music scene here.”
The project was initiated three years ago by Malvido and his good friend Andrea Hernández, who has since moved on to other endeavors, and her brother, Eduardo.
“We had an idea where we wanted to organize something very simple and include music in some way,” says Malvido.
“So I got in touch with one of my cousins, Marla, who helps run an orphanage called Alcanzando la Visión in Tijuana. She said they needed toys.”
http://vimeo.com/52347654
In turn, Project Donate organized a toy drive at the Che Café and, afterwards, the donated stuffed animals were made into care packages for the kids in Tijuana.
As part of their second annual event, a benefit at Queen Bee’s in North Park, 190 of Lopez's AVID students (in groups of 5) sponsored a child and made custom care packages for each individual orphan, a tradition that continued this year and will be carried out every year "to help empower students in their ability to impact positive social change."
"Effectively, connecting education with community and harnessing the power of music to tie it all together," says Lopez, who hopping on board as executive director after the Queen Bee's fundraiser and began booking more regular events.
Today, Project Donate consists of a nine member-strong team of volunteers (Erika Ochoa, Luis Mierez, Yovannys Mierez, Thomas Browning, Nahum Garcia, and Abraham Garcia - all Eastlake High School alumni, incidentally) who have coordinated entertainment for causes such as the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Include Autism, and ongoing support for the orphanage.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/15/41990/
Their goal for this season is to raise $6,000 by April to build a room addition for Alcanzando la Visión.
Designed to accommodate 30 children, the orphanage currently houses around 50, Malvido says.
Project Donate is also in partnership with North Park for the Arts and hosts entertainment at the monthly Ray at Night art walk (second Saturdays).
“Everyone in project donate is involved in music somehow,” says Lopez. “I DJ and produce [under the alias Guywhomakesbeatz] and played music for a long time. From music I went to my first passion, which was teaching.”
Malvido, meanwhile, started playing when he joined a mariachi group during his freshman year of high school.
“I got into local bands, garage bands, and over time I started really finding a passion for music,” say Malvido, who is in the process of transferring from community college to continue his studies in history and anthropology.
“The kind of personality I am, it’s hard to express myself through painting, but music just pours out of me.”
To date, over 40 San Diego/Tijuana bands and DJs and about 10 venues have chipped in their time and resources to help Project Donate help local charities.
One of their longest-running supporters has been Visual in Normal Heights, where Project Donate built their own stage and owner Jason Gould, along with four other artists, gave it a custom paint job.
Local artists Jo-el, JC Carino, and Lonny Wood have also made major and ongoing contributions of their work to add to the visual aesthetic at Project Donate events.
Despite all the support, Lopez says running the organization is a full-time gig on top of his full-time gig teaching.
It’s kept him so busy, in fact, that he hasn’t had time to add new tracks to his Soundcloud page in almost a year.
But he’s not too worried about the time, and he certainly isn’t worried about the money.
“We’re not taking profit,” says Lopez. “We’re taking the profit motive out of music. We want growth in music and the community, and we want it to benefit everybody.”
“We’ve gone from once-a-year shows to sometimes a few every month, working with some of the biggest pushers and movers in San Diego’s music scene,” says Malvido.
“It’s very humbling. We’re blown away, but were holding on. This movement is going to get bigger and bigger. I think as long as we hang on to our integrity it will only help our community.”
Project donate is always looking for new bands and venues who would like to get involved.
Upcoming events:
March 22nd @ Headquarters Cafe 8 - 2 a.m.
Parker & The Numberman, Sighphur One & Ethix , Edgar IsReal , Awkward Congregation, Aki Kharmicel & Beatsmith Resist
April 5th @ Quality Social - Happy Hour 5 - 9 p.m.
The Illuminauts, Baby Davy, more TBA
April 13 @ Ray at Night - Street Fair 6 - 10 p.m.
Ed Ghost Trucker, more TBA
April 13 @ The Griffin - 9 - 2 a.m.
Todo Mundo, more TBA
April 27 @ Otay Lakes Mall
Cycle Eastlake – a benefit race for Eastlake Educational Foundation
Musicians who have worked with Project Donate:
Jerry Olea and the 805 Drifters
The Color of Glass
King Legend
Dexter Riley Xperiment
Elias Thoughts
The Foundation of
Lazko
Shawn Lam
2000 Tons of TNT
Hell.Note
Generik
Future Friends
Mike Gorman
Riff Rap Collective
Zochi
Apex Realm
Johnny B and The Avenues
DJ Hevrock
Lightning Cloud
Awkward Congregation
Beatsmith Resist
Pulse Liberation
The Edge band
Mystery Cave
Andrew Foster
Future Weapon
Carlo Arvizu
Nicky Holiday
Baby Davy
Chuko
Cicada
Odessa Kane
Aki Kharmicel
DJ Third Rail
Amber Lion Blues
Christian Moreno Quartet
The Krimson Blues
Salvador Santana (Son of Carlos)
Reed Street Sessions
Soulwater
MAST
KONE
Illuminauts
Venues:
The Griffin
Kava Lounge
Soda Bar
El Dorado
Headquarters Cafe
Ray at Night
Southbay YMCA
Otay Ranch Mall
Eastlake Country Club
Cool Down Coffee
Every now and then, when cosmic bodies align just so and Santa Anas cloak the breeze with their curious desert magic, a person finds their calling in that charmed place where talent, passion, opportunity, and goodwill meet.
Such was the case for Hector Malvido and Luis Lopez, two of the co-founders behind Project Donate, “a nonprofit for nonprofits.”
Their mission is simple: to support local charities by curating local bands and DJs for fundraising events.
Charities get the increased draw of live entertainment, musicians gain exposure, and everybody goes home happy.
“It’s important that we help the community but also help the people who are helping us,” says Malvido, an Eastlake High School alumnus who now works alongside Lopez at their alma mater as an AVID college prep tutor.
“We want to give people an incentive to go to charity events and also an incentive to see bands. Why wouldn’t anybody go? They’re going to have a great time and help a good cause. And I think that’s really important for the San Diego community. We need to increase the awareness of the music scene here.”
The project was initiated three years ago by Malvido and his good friend Andrea Hernández, who has since moved on to other endeavors, and her brother, Eduardo.
“We had an idea where we wanted to organize something very simple and include music in some way,” says Malvido.
“So I got in touch with one of my cousins, Marla, who helps run an orphanage called Alcanzando la Visión in Tijuana. She said they needed toys.”
http://vimeo.com/52347654
In turn, Project Donate organized a toy drive at the Che Café and, afterwards, the donated stuffed animals were made into care packages for the kids in Tijuana.
As part of their second annual event, a benefit at Queen Bee’s in North Park, 190 of Lopez's AVID students (in groups of 5) sponsored a child and made custom care packages for each individual orphan, a tradition that continued this year and will be carried out every year "to help empower students in their ability to impact positive social change."
"Effectively, connecting education with community and harnessing the power of music to tie it all together," says Lopez, who hopping on board as executive director after the Queen Bee's fundraiser and began booking more regular events.
Today, Project Donate consists of a nine member-strong team of volunteers (Erika Ochoa, Luis Mierez, Yovannys Mierez, Thomas Browning, Nahum Garcia, and Abraham Garcia - all Eastlake High School alumni, incidentally) who have coordinated entertainment for causes such as the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Include Autism, and ongoing support for the orphanage.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/15/41990/
Their goal for this season is to raise $6,000 by April to build a room addition for Alcanzando la Visión.
Designed to accommodate 30 children, the orphanage currently houses around 50, Malvido says.
Project Donate is also in partnership with North Park for the Arts and hosts entertainment at the monthly Ray at Night art walk (second Saturdays).
“Everyone in project donate is involved in music somehow,” says Lopez. “I DJ and produce [under the alias Guywhomakesbeatz] and played music for a long time. From music I went to my first passion, which was teaching.”
Malvido, meanwhile, started playing when he joined a mariachi group during his freshman year of high school.
“I got into local bands, garage bands, and over time I started really finding a passion for music,” say Malvido, who is in the process of transferring from community college to continue his studies in history and anthropology.
“The kind of personality I am, it’s hard to express myself through painting, but music just pours out of me.”
To date, over 40 San Diego/Tijuana bands and DJs and about 10 venues have chipped in their time and resources to help Project Donate help local charities.
One of their longest-running supporters has been Visual in Normal Heights, where Project Donate built their own stage and owner Jason Gould, along with four other artists, gave it a custom paint job.
Local artists Jo-el, JC Carino, and Lonny Wood have also made major and ongoing contributions of their work to add to the visual aesthetic at Project Donate events.
Despite all the support, Lopez says running the organization is a full-time gig on top of his full-time gig teaching.
It’s kept him so busy, in fact, that he hasn’t had time to add new tracks to his Soundcloud page in almost a year.
But he’s not too worried about the time, and he certainly isn’t worried about the money.
“We’re not taking profit,” says Lopez. “We’re taking the profit motive out of music. We want growth in music and the community, and we want it to benefit everybody.”
“We’ve gone from once-a-year shows to sometimes a few every month, working with some of the biggest pushers and movers in San Diego’s music scene,” says Malvido.
“It’s very humbling. We’re blown away, but were holding on. This movement is going to get bigger and bigger. I think as long as we hang on to our integrity it will only help our community.”
Project donate is always looking for new bands and venues who would like to get involved.
Upcoming events:
March 22nd @ Headquarters Cafe 8 - 2 a.m.
Parker & The Numberman, Sighphur One & Ethix , Edgar IsReal , Awkward Congregation, Aki Kharmicel & Beatsmith Resist
April 5th @ Quality Social - Happy Hour 5 - 9 p.m.
The Illuminauts, Baby Davy, more TBA
April 13 @ Ray at Night - Street Fair 6 - 10 p.m.
Ed Ghost Trucker, more TBA
April 13 @ The Griffin - 9 - 2 a.m.
Todo Mundo, more TBA
April 27 @ Otay Lakes Mall
Cycle Eastlake – a benefit race for Eastlake Educational Foundation
Musicians who have worked with Project Donate:
Jerry Olea and the 805 Drifters
The Color of Glass
King Legend
Dexter Riley Xperiment
Elias Thoughts
The Foundation of
Lazko
Shawn Lam
2000 Tons of TNT
Hell.Note
Generik
Future Friends
Mike Gorman
Riff Rap Collective
Zochi
Apex Realm
Johnny B and The Avenues
DJ Hevrock
Lightning Cloud
Awkward Congregation
Beatsmith Resist
Pulse Liberation
The Edge band
Mystery Cave
Andrew Foster
Future Weapon
Carlo Arvizu
Nicky Holiday
Baby Davy
Chuko
Cicada
Odessa Kane
Aki Kharmicel
DJ Third Rail
Amber Lion Blues
Christian Moreno Quartet
The Krimson Blues
Salvador Santana (Son of Carlos)
Reed Street Sessions
Soulwater
MAST
KONE
Illuminauts
Venues:
The Griffin
Kava Lounge
Soda Bar
El Dorado
Headquarters Cafe
Ray at Night
Southbay YMCA
Otay Ranch Mall
Eastlake Country Club
Cool Down Coffee