A one-night concert festival jointly hosted by members of Phi Mu and Phi Mu Alpha at the Neely Dining Hall Saturday night raised approximately $2,500 for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
The event, appropriately named Bonnamu, was the solution to two congruent needs—funds for Phi Mu’s national philanthropy, CMNH, and a fall fundraiser to acquire them.
Junior Katy Hansen, Phi Mu executive philanthropy chair, and Noah Karman, the treasurer for Phi Mu Alpha, had been planning the event since the beginning of the year, Hansen said.
“Bonnamu is a national event a lot of chapters do,” she said. “It was a natural fit at Belmont; there’s a lot of great bands and singers, and it could connect both worlds on campus.”
The audience, while being comprised primarily of Phi Mu members, also included some non-Greeks as well. But in spite of allegiances or organizational ties, all were united to hear the diverse sounds that the four Belmont bands had to offer.
Candle Kid, The Pressure Kids, Monica Moser and Mocha kept the crowd entertained for three hours with musical stylings that jumped all the way from folk to funk—with a little alternative rock thrown in for good measure.
“It was a collaborative event to find musicians,” Hansen said. “The bands were hand-selected. We wanted a wide variety of performances that would interest a lot of people but stay true to the Belmont music scene.”
Of course, the event may have been about the music on the surface, but all of the proceeds from ticket purchases, T-shirt sales and outside fundraising went to what the event truly was for: the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
The organization is a series of 170 hospitals nationwide—of which Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is a member—that provide free medical care to children regardless of physical or financial needs, she said.
“They will not be turned away for not being able to pay,” she said. “These events actually help pay for their experiences.”
Phi Mu donates the money raised to Vanderbilt’s Children’s Hospital, after which it goes to “wherever they think they need it most at the time,” she said.
All in all, a crowd big enough to nearly max out Neely helped raise both the roof and enough money to make those experiences possible.
And for Hansen, it was exactly what she had expected.
“I think this year went over really well,” she said. “Everyone was having an amazing time, and we raised money for an amazing cause.”