About three weeks ago our friend Mar­garida Tree, owner of One Yoga Planet in Ft. Pierce, called us and asked if we could per­form for a fund-raiser being held for a local Stu­art man called Brother Judah.  She shared that it was for help­ing a fel­low musi­cian and really cool guy pay for med­ical treat­ments for lung can­cer.  Once we spoke to Deb­o­rah Sil­ver, the fund-raiser orga­nizer to solid­ify the plans,Manuka Honey mem­bers were absolutely all on board.

This past Sat­ur­day, June 19th, Manuka Honey kicked off the event to a packed house there at the Blake Library in Stu­art.  For the dura­tion of the event, from 1 – 4 pm, some­where around 300 peo­ple came to show their love and sup­port for this man.  Fol­low­ing Manuka Honey’s per­for­mance were the belly dancer’s, and yes they were a BIG hit.  Margarida’s sis­ter, Yvonne, who teaches belly danc­ing at One Yoga Planet, brought a troop of dancers that wowed the crowd with their per­for­mance.  She fol­lowed up their per­for­mance with a beau­ti­ful solo dance.  Brother Judah’s young stu­dents sang a sweet heart­felt song for him while he looked on from the side of the stage.  And to cap off the day all of his drum­ming stu­dents and fel­low drum­mers cre­ated a fan­tas­tic drum cir­cle.  The res­o­nant sound of all the drums exploded within the auditorium.

Although we hadn’t pre­vi­ously met Brother Judah until the day of the fund-raiser, we felt hon­ored to spend the day with him and all the peo­ple that love him and sup­port him through his heal­ing process.  Through­out the day we learned that this drum­mer taught racial tol­er­ance and fam­ily val­ues through his drum­ming out­reach classes to the local school chil­dren, and the Boys and Girls Clubs.  You could tell by watch­ing him that his nature was to give, and here he was learn­ing to receive.  Not only were Brother Judah’s young stu­dents there in full force, so were his adult stu­dents and peers, and every­one had a blast!  Once again, I have to say how hon­ored we felt to be a part of such a won­der­ful com­mu­nity event and to send heal­ing, energy, and love to a fel­low musi­cian in need.  We hope to meet again!

By Cheri Abrams

“For those about to rock, we salute you.” – AC/DC