Up with People helps make the world a better place
A little less than 20 years ago, Brevard businesswoman Monica Shah was a senior in high school and a volunteer at a school for children with disabilities in Vero Beach, when she was nominated for a citizenship award. Shah was then offered a place in Up with People, the public service and performing organization that has toured for more than 50 years.
Shah accepted, putting off her education at the Georgia Institute of Technology, to which she had been accepted, while she traveled the world entertaining and, in her words, “building bridges.”
She retains her connection with Up with People and has helped arrange for its cast to entertain at 8 p.m. Friday, March 16, and Saturday, March 17, at Eau Gallie High, 1400 Commodore Blvd., Melbourne, to raise funds locally for the Children’s Hunger Project.
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The show will feature more than 100 participants from 20 countries; it is described by Up with People officials as “high-energy, upbeat, family-friendly entertainment that will include soloists and full-cast production numbers."
"(The show) ‘Live on Tour’ is designed to share our vision of a more hopeful, trusting and peaceful world,” said Eric Lentz, Up with People senior vice president. “The show features entertaining pop medleys, international dances and original UWP songs that will inspire people to make a positive difference in their communities.”
The show is expected to make a positive difference for the Children’s Hunger Project, “Brevard’s backpack program,” which sends children home from elementary schools with food every Friday “to ensure that elementary school children, at least on weekends, will have basic nutrition,” according to executive director Keith Gee.
“We are just thrilled to be a part of this: 100 young people from 20 different countries, and I love the fact that they come with a commitment to do 1,000 hours of community service wherever they go,” Gee said. “They will be at our offices doing packages (for hungry children), but they also are going to be painting a mural on the wall of our building, which was donated. That will help us to not look so much like a used-car lot.”
Gee credits Shah and her family for bringing the show here since their company, Southeast Petro Distributors, is a major supporter of CHP. Summit M. Shah, Monica’s brother, is a director of the organization and was described by Gee as “one of our biggest supporters.”
Up with People certainly makes a difference in the lives of those who participate and who are touched by it, Monica Shah believes.
“I traveled for a year with Up with People and for me, it was all about the cultural experience rather than the music,” she said. “I had never studied music and was not a singer, and the music guy said to me, ‘You’ll be good by the end of the year.’ We traveled to 80 cities in nine countries . . . . When we went to Italy, we performed for the Pope. It changed my outlook in some respects. Before I went to Germany, I kind of had a negative view of (that country) because of World War II and the Nazis, but when I left, it was one of the places I liked best. We found that the negative
stereotypes about German people were not true and they discovered that not all Americans are loud and obnoxious. By the time we left, they said they were so glad to have (hosted) us.”
Shah’s year resulted in “lifelong friendships,” including one with a Venezuelan student, for whom his fellow Up with People alums collectively recently raised enough money to get him out of that country and into freedom and safety.
“You read things, or see them on the news, and after an experience like UWP, it’s not just the news anymore. It’s personal. You know someone somewhere,” Shah said.
The Rockledge native, who also helped bring UWP here two and a half years ago to benefit the Scott Center for Autism at Florida Institute of Technology, said her ongoing role in this and other charitable activities stems from a desire to “the desire to give back to a community that has made my family so successful.”
That is fine with Gee, who believes the attention alone will help the Children’s Hunger Project substantially.
“I honestly believe that this problem, hunger among children, is an awareness problem, because if people were aware of how many children in our own community were affected by it, they would be shocked, and we could eliminate child hunger in Brevard County,” he said.
The volunteer efforts of its high school-age participants, the fact that they stay with local families and the show itself may have that impact, but it also may serve another purpose, much needed now, whole the media hums with so much bad news.
“Up with People is about breaking down stereotypes,” Shah said. “At this time, it is especially relevant, especially following events like the shootings at the high school in Parkland. However people feel politically . . . this gives them a different way of looking at things, using music. It works. If they (the students in UWP) with people can do it, we should be able to do it.
The details
What: Up with People
When and where: 8 p.m. Friday, March 16, and 7 p.m. Saturday, March 17, at Eau Gallie High, 1400 Commodore Blvd., Melbourne. Tickets are $50 for VIP, $20 for adults and $15 for students.
When and where: 7 p.m. Thursday, March 22, and 8 p.m. Friday, March 23, at Intergenerational Recreation Center, 1590 9th St. SW, Vero Beach. Tickets are $100 for VIP, $18 for adults, $13 for students and $8 for children under 12.
Info: For more information about Up with People, visit upwithpeople.org. For more on the Children’s Hunger Project, visit thechildrenshungerproject.org.