Donkey Coffee & Espresso’s stage hosted eight Athens-based musicians Friday during a benefit for the Athens County Humane Society. Instead of performing their own material, the artists covered music from other Athens songwriters.
“It’s a community-based organization, and I thought this would be an off-kilter way to show support for the Humane Society,” said Troy Gregorino, Donkey’s booking manager. “There is such a rich history of music in Athens.”
For Leah Nairn, one of the artists at Friday’s show, performing someone else’s material was a new experience.
“When you have to figure someone else’s song out, you realize that some that may have seemed simple really aren’t,” Nairn said.
Out of the three songs Nairn covered, her rendition of “Refugee” by Colleen Carow stood out to her.
“‘Refugee’ turned out really nice,” Nairn said.
Having musicians performing songs they don’t usually play seemed like an interesting idea to Gregorino, who volunteers for the Humane Society and helped plan the event.
“It seemed like a quirky way to see artists we like in a different element,” Gregorino said.
Gregorino also wanted to plan an event to help the Athens County Humane Society.
“For a long time, I wanted to put something together to benefit the Humane Society,” Gregorino said. “And they were able to come out to demonstrate their ideas.”
The Athens County Humane Society was accepting donations at the door to the event and relaying information about its services to attendees. The benefit brought in about $200 said Bethany Scott, an ImPRessions account member for the Athens County Humane Society.
The event helped bring attention to the organization and what it does in Athens.
“I think a lot of students, especially, don’t necessarily think about us as a place to either get a pet or to volunteer,” said Shelley Lieberman, Athens County Humane Society vice president. “So awareness would be one thing, and raising money for the spay/neuter programs that we do.”
The Athens County Humane Society, which is completely volunteer-based, holds low-cost spay and neuter clinics every month for the area.
“We do two clinics every month for spaying and neutering cats and dogs,” Lieberman said. “Our whole intention is to try to reduce the population of pets in the area who are homeless.”
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