AHS student organizes charity concert

The WHOlives benefit concert will feature Seattle salsa band Manigua, local classic rock band Hey Gracie and the Marimba band from Haller Middle School at the Linda M. Byrnes Performing Arts Center at Arlington High School at 7 p.m. on April 12.

ARLINGTON — For those living in the rainy Pacific Northwest, having access to clean water is not something to worry about. But for people living in small villages in Africa it can be a daily life-threatening problem.

Arlington High School and Running Start student Reagan Moss is organizing a benefit concert to help fund manual well drills in African villages through the charity WHOlives.org.

“I’m going with the charity organizer to Kenya this summer, but being there I won’t be much help. I thought this would be a good way to make a bigger impact,” said Moss.

The WHOlives benefit concert will feature Seattle salsa band Manigua, local classic rock band Hey Gracie and the Marimba band from Haller Middle School at the Linda M. Byrnes Performing Arts Center at Arlington High School at 7 p.m. on April 12. The president and co-founder of WHOlives.org, John Renouard, is slated to make a speech during the concert and a bake sale will be held in the lobby before the event. Attendees are suggested to make a donation.

“This is the first time we’ve done this and hopefully if it goes well we can continue to do fundraisers and send charity baskets,” said Moss.

Renouard invented a lightweight, inexpensive, hand-powered water drilling rig, dubbed the “Village Drill,” and started the charity to fund the manufacturing and distribution of those drills to people in need.

For more information on the charity visit www.wholives.org.