Rockin' For A Helpful Cause

Daniel Fleig -- (Oneonta, NY)

This past Tuesday on February 16th an event called "The Mic and Rock to Cure" was held in the Hunt Ballroom of SUNY Oneonta. During this event Oneonta's Music Industry club and Rock to Cure got together for a great cause. With the help of these two groups coming together, great music was performed in order to raise money for the Tyler DeMarco foundation.

Here's a little background about the Tyler DeMarco foundation. Tyler was diagnosed in 2006 with a type of brain tumor called Medulloblastoma, at the very young age of just nine years old. After chemotherapy and other treatments, he enjoyed remission for eleven months. Unfortunately the cancer returned and continued to spread, resulting in Tyler's death in 2010. His strength throughout it all inspired many to find a cure for childhood cancer, which is what the foundation is raising money for.

     

I interviewed Jessica Tyler and asked her why she was excited to photograph tonight. Her response was "I really like to be able to capture the emotion and feeling of the show and capture the emotion of a song in a photograph. It's a lot of fun to shoot."

I asked Lesley-Ann Dries what she knows about the donations for the event. " The donations go to the Tyler DeMarco foundation. It started with one of the graduates who graduated last spring. His brother passed away from childhood cancer six years ago. So we're having a benefit show and all the money will go to the parents who will then spread that money to cancer research and funding."

Sarah Waxberg said that her reason for being at this event was "I'm the PR chair on the Music Industry Club eBoard so I shoot all the shows and help set up and what not."

Faculty and staff, students and the performers all joined in order to support the cause. Some of the performers there of the Music Industry Club included Nobody's Babe, Watermedown, Chase Huglin and Pitch Slapped. Ryan DeMarco is the brother of Tyler DeMarco who is a former Oneonta Alumn. Many of his friends helped put together this concert in order to support the cause of trying to find a cure for childhood cancer.