This month's 'Final Friday' at The Wine Sellers (TWS), which will be held June 26 with local musician Bill Maakestaad, along with Lysa Fox, Eric Ginsberg and bassist Brett Dougherty, will raise funds for Habitat for Humanity of McDonough County. Fox is the chair of WIU's theatre and dance department, while Ginsberg is WIU music professor emeritus.
The June 'Final Friday' will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. On the last Friday of each month, the man behind the mike (and guitar) plays at The Wine Sellers – sometimes solo, sometimes joined by other local musicians – and plays for donations for local organization. Since starting this initiative in 2020, Maakestad and The Wine Sellers, owned by Craig and Julia Burns of Macomb, have raised well over $25,000 for 28 area nonprofits, ranging from local food pantries, social service programs, public radio, the humane society and education, among many other organizations.
Donations from Friday's event will benefit The Giving Gardens (GG), a local non-profit organization that manages 10 public-access gardens in McDonough County. John Curtis, GG founder and director, created the initiative in 2022 with four public access gardens in Macomb.
'I've lived in Macomb for over 40 years, and I think The Giving Gardens has the potential to be the most exciting and impactful project ever to serve all residents of our community. It deserves all the support we can give it,' said Maakestad, Giving Gardens visitor and volunteer.
Visit The Giving Gardens on most social media platforms at GivingGardensforAll for updates. More information about GG can be found on their website at givinggardensforall.com, and anyone interested in receiving the GG e-newsletter or mailed newsletter can be added to the contact list by emailing info@givinggardensforall. com.
