Weekend concert benefits Tails of Hope

Feb. 26—SHARON — Gathered Saturday evening at 40 Below, musician Stephen Kelleher not only performed for a crowd of almost 90 people, but talked and shared his stories with the audience.

With a style that he describes as "passionate acoustic rock," Kelleher said that, when he does perform, he prefers a smaller, more personal setting, such as that offered by 40 Below, located within the ACTS Performing Arts Center.

"For what I do, I enjoy having that ability to interact one-on-one with audience members," Kelleher said.

But there was a purpose to Kelleher's concert Saturday — raising funds toward the Tails of Hope Inc. spay and neuter clinic in Hermitage.

For Kelleher, a dog-lover whose family owns a farm in Lawrence County, the desire to support Tails of Hope and the community's animals was a personal one.

"We love nature, we love animals, and we're at the point where we don't allow people to hunt or fish on our property. We want to preserve the animals' habitats," Kelleher said.

Kelleher said Saturday's concert came about after a recent lunch with Frank Gargiulo, who is involved with 40 Below and was interested in having Kelleher perform at the venue.

Although Kelleher said he has been spending more time recording rather than performing live, he decided to perform if the concert benefited a local nonprofit.

Since Kelleher was familiar with Tails of Hope and knew its executive director, Soraya Hejazi, he chose Tails of Hope to be the beneficiary.

"When it came to Tails of Hope's mission and what they're doing for the community, I'd support them any day, every day," Kelleher said.

Accompanying Kelleher was his son and fellow musician, Stevie Geruschat, who said his father usually performed in the Pittsburgh area — which drew a mix of old and new fans to Saturday's concert.

Occasionally taking his father's side for different songs, Stevie said he shared his family's love of animals.

"My dad likes dogs, I'm more of a cat person, but animals have always been really important for us," Stevie said.

Hejazi said there were 88 tickets available for the concert — which sold out. After the concert, Hejazi said the show raised more than $5,700 toward Tails of Hope's mission.

Hejazi added that she appreciated the support of the community and ACTS officials' willingness to host the event, as well as Kelleher's desire to perform for the concert.

"Those are very powerful songs, and he was willing to get up there and share his life with the audience," Hejazi said.

Mortals Key Brewing Co. from Jamestown served as the main, soprano sponsor for Saturday's event, Hejazi said.

Tenor sponsors were Gilbert's Risk Solutions, KO Consulting LLC, and Richard and Lisa Wallace; baritone sponsors included Pacific Rainbow International Inc. and Diane Webster.

Bass sponsors were A-1 Abstract and Settlement, Rick Dunder Construction, LLC, Kismet, Greenville Health Products, Gary and Carol Hinkson, and Wheatons Cleaners.

Haitian Sensation sold food for the event, and organizers offered a 50/50 raffle, lottery tree raffle, a free door prize raffle and complimentary swag bag.

Following Saturday's concert, Tails of Hope will hold a couple "FUNdraisers."

These include a March Catness lucky cat online raffle, which will run from March 1 through March 31.

There will also be a Breakfast at Kitteny's designer purse and cash bingo on April 13 at The Corinthian, Sharon.

For more information and tickets, visit the Tails of Hope website at tailsofhopewpa.org.

Like David L. Dye on Facebook or email him at ddye@sharonherald.com.