GLOUCESTER TIMES
By Gail McCarthy
Staff Writer
A globally minded Rockport woman is hosting a musical benefit Saturday to raise money for a network working to help orphans in some of the world’s most impoverished communities. Alexandra Saville, 21, has pulled together three bands and food from local restaurants in an event for The Genesis Network at the Rockport Community House, starting at 6 p.m. The event features the music of Zach Comtois, the Jo Henly band and the BFs.
Global Network founder Adam Swartzbaugh, 24, will speak briefly at the event. The network, incorporated as a nonprofit last December and which uses all donations on its porjects, already has built two schools and helped 250 children in Thailand.
The mission of The Genesis Network is to develop international human rights projects to help at-risk children and communities. Projects include building schools, economic development and orphan protection. “I decided to try my hand at event planning in order to take advantage of the support and accessibility a small town has to offer,” said Saville. “It has really been a community effort and I would love for people to come out and support a great cause. Each ticket will make a difference in the life of a child in these impoverished villages. A little bit goes a long, life-changing way for these kids.”
Saville, a 2006 graduate of Rockport High School, is majoring in international communications with a minor in print journalism at Boston University. She took a year off from college to travel, working in an orphanage in Mexico. She had plans to work in Thailand but because of a violent coup, that trip was cancelled. But when she finishes her college degree, she plans to do community service globally again, likely through The Genesis Network. She came across the organization on the Web, and began writing grant proposals for it this summer. “Being by myself around the world for a year was definitely a catalyst for my desire to help,” she said. “It made the world seem smaller to me and allowed me to better empathize, and more clearly see the connection all people share. It made me want to help.”
Swartzbaugh, who grew up in Rockport, Maine, but has lived throughout New England, knows how to make things happen. He said he struggled to find his path through his college years but in the end earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations and a graduate degree in development studies from Brown University. He was the only ROTC student at Brown, which did not have a ROTC program. He traveled to nearby Providence College to take part in the program. He just received his commission in the Army, and will go on active duty in a few months for four years. “But I’ve built the organization to a place where it can be sustained,” he said. Swartzbaugh, who worked in construction in Maine, explained that the roots for the Web-based network sprouted from when he was working in Thailand with a tsunami relief construction project.
“I had the opportunity to see the abuses against children along the Burma and Thai border, where there was trafficking, child prostitution and slave labor, and I wanted to do something about it,” he said. “I really wanted to get something started, get student support. This evolved from a single project. But I realized it was going too slow and I thought how can we do more with less — and The Genesis Network evolved from that.” The network functions as a grassroots initiative and gives people a chance to reach out to volunteer, and reports on its projects for potential philanthropists.
“We connect the dots between people who need support and people who give it,” said Swartzbaugh. “So often you give to a large organization but you don’t see where the money goes, but the network allows people to donate to a specific project as well as interact with project leaders, see project plans, budgets and photographs.” The network, still in its infancy, is focusing on a few projects at present and will expand as the network grows.
“Volunteers come to us and say how can I get involved and they find it’s easy with the network,” he said.
IF YOU GO
What: A benefit concert for The Genesis Network, which helps children, featuring three bands and food.
When: Saturday, Sept. 26, from 6 to 9:30 p.m.
Where: Rockport Community House at 58 Broadway.
Who: The event features music by Zach Comtois, Jo Henly band, and the BF, and food from Latitude 43, Alchemy, Bracketts and the Fish Shack.
How much: Tickets can be purchased online at the Rock the Night for Children’s Rights event page at Toad Hall Bookstore, at Rockport High School’s DECA store, at the available at the door. For more information, visit www.gnetwork.org