Families ‘band together’ to help others

The Fishbin family, of Port Washington, and the Seaman family, of Merrick, have known each other since their sons attended sleepaway summer camp together many years ago. Now they are joining together for the benefit of two organizations that are dear to their hearts: Rock and Wrap it Up! and Music Never Stops: The Tyler Seaman Foundation.

On March 27, a concert at City Winery, the intimate concert venue and winery in downtown Manhattan, featuring Midwest funk-rock band The Main Squeeze will raise money for both organizations. Rock and Wrap it Up! recovers prepared food and other supplies that go untouched at places like concerts, sporting events, hotels and schools and delivers it to food banks, shelters, and other agencies fighting poverty. Music Never Stops looks to provide music therapy programs for teenagers with serious illnesses, starting at “Tyler’s Music Room,” a space for music therapy in Beth Israel Medical Center on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The charity provides funding for musical instruments, recording equipment, software, streaming accounts and concert tickets.

Music Never Stops’ namesake, Tyler Seaman, was a Merokean who in 2010 lost his life to clival chordoma, a rare type of spinal cancer. The family chose this charitable cause because Tyler was a tremendous music fan, and he enjoyed the therapeutic benefits of music while undergoing treatments for his cancer. The Foundation has pledged $100,000 to Beth Israel over five years.

“Band Together,” the title of the concert on March 27, will honor Dori and Michael Fishbin for their work on behalf of Rock and Wrap it Up!. They are due to receive the Lena and Joseph Mandelbaum 2014 Humanitarian Award, which is named after Holocaust survivors who inspired the organization’s anti-poverty and anti-hunger mission. The evening’s proceeds will go to Rock and Wrap it Up! and Music Never Stops. “Band Together” will include an open bar, live and silent auctions, dinner, and a performance by The Main Squeeze.

“This is going to be a wonderful event supporting two great causes,” said Marley Jay, Tyler’s older brother. “… It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s going to be a great tribute to Dori and Michael, who are outstanding people, and it’s also going to be very meaningful to my family and a great testament to Tyler as a person. I think he would absolutely love this.”

Tickets and a donations page are available at www.rockandwrapitup.org. More information is also available at www.tylersmusicroom.org.