Fundraiser Set For July 19 To Help Visually Impaired
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
PIERCETON – Jack Klinefelter’s grandson, Matthew Aaron Maynes, was born without sight to Klinefelter’s daughter, Lauren, and son-in-law, Matt, in Tucson, Ariz. Though the boy was missing one of his senses, that strengthened another. “As grandparents, it became evident to us that this little guy had a real proclivity for music. He can recite back a melody line to you verbatim and he knows the words to many, many songs,” Klinefelter said in a telephone interview from Tucson. Klinefelter’s wife, Tammy, started Matty’s Vision – a Hal Rugg Foundation to raise money for camps to expose visually impaired children to music and send instruments home with them. Rugg is Matthew Maynes’ grandfather who was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1989. He appeared on many Loretta Lynn recordings, and was on the Grand Ole Opry for 17 years. Klinefelter said Rugg was one of the top three steel guitarists of all time. Klinefelter, known on stage as “Papa Jack,” and a 1974 Warsaw Community High School graduate, is returning to Northern Indiana to host the first fundraiser for Matty’s Vision. Papa Jack’s BBQ Bash is an evening of Americana music and food. It’s scheduled for July 19, beginning at 7 p.m., at The Old Train Depot, 115 E. Market St., Pierceton. A $25 donation includes entertainment and food. For reservations, call 574-268-2199 or email bbqbash@theoldtraindepot.net Seating is limited, and is available by seat or table. “What we’re doing is a couple of different things. First, as opposed to playing music and making money, we will be raising money for the visually impaired,” Klinefelter said. The show itself, he said, starts with him playing a mix of folk, country and blues music with stories. Nashville singer and songwriter Sherry Carlisle will entertain the crowd with him. Another musician, to be determined, will join in with them. Also during the event, Klinefelter will be reunited with some of the guys he hasn’t performed on stage with for a number of years. Those guys include Chris Long, Bill Seiffert and John Baker. “They’re all local musicians and it will be a part of the reunion section of the benefit show. Some of the songs we haven’t done for a number of years. At the end of the evening, we might do an impromptu jam session, but it will all be professional,” Klinefelter noted. “It’ll be kind of like a Willie & Friends format where someone calls out a song and we’ll play it. I promise it’ll be a bunch of fun.” He said the event was all in honor of Rugg and helping the visually impaired. “We’re just using music as the vehicle to have fun and raise money,” he stated. Since it is the first fundraiser for Matty’s Vision, he said it is important for it to be a good experience and have a good turnout. This event is a “beta test,” he said, for further events. It’s not the first fundraiser Klinefelter has been a part of, however. Before he graduated Warsaw in the early 1970s, he used to organize fundraisers for the Cardinal Learning Center. He chose to have this fundraiser back in Northern Indiana because that is where he’s from, he said.
