The weather outside may not be frightful, but supporters of the Southern Arizona Diaper Bank are dreaming of a white Christmas during the December Diaper Drive.
A new musical production, “In The Christmas Mood — A Holiday Spectacular,” seeks to make those dreams come true by helping to pack the Diaper Bank vault while celebrating musical traditions of the season.
“I feel it is important for any community, especially ours here in Tucson, to have a real sense of community. Having a performance that celebrates the traditions of the holidays ... seems to be a perfect opportunity for people of diverse backgrounds and cultures to come together,” said Khris Dodge, producer of the show that will be staged at the Fox Tucson Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
The production features timeless treasures such as “Sleigh Ride,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “I’ll be Home for Christmas,” and many others performed by a full cast of entertainers and a band along with headliners Brian Lovario, husband-and-wife Jesse and Laura Berger and “American Idol” semifinalist Crystal Stark.
“The talent of all of these performers is just off the charts. Everyone in Tucson knows who Crystal Stark is, and all of the other performers are of equal caliber. At times when you hear Jesse you will think you are listening to Michael Bublé or Bing Crosby himself, and Laura sings a unique version of ‘Jingle Bells’ that sounds just like Barbra Streisand, while Brian highlights the stage with incredible song and dance numbers. They are all just amazing talents,” Dodge said.
Special guests include the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus and the 94.9MIX FM Morning Mix with Greg Curtis, Bobby Rich and Mrs. Grant.
Tucson Boys Chorus director Julian Ackerley said the chorus is honored to be in the show. Along with the full cast, the choir will perform favorites such as “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “Feliz Navidad.” It will be spotlighted in a special a cappella performance of “Carol of the Bells,” which has become its signature holiday piece.
“We have worked hard on this piece and it requires a real sense of ensemble balance between all the parts. It ends with bells of singing in pianissimo, and it is breathtaking to hear. It gets a favorable audience response every time we sing it,” Ackerley said.
Ackerley said he believes the fact that a portion of the proceeds from the performance benefits local nonprofits such as the Diaper Bank and Ben’s Bells is another crowd-pleaser.
“I can’t think of any better cause than children doing activities to benefit other children,” Ackerley said.
Southern Arizona Diaper Bank executive director Dan Moxley said the effort will assist not only the most vulnerable babies and toddlers, but adults and seniors as well. Last year, the organization supplied 1.3 million diapers and adult incontinence supplies through 53 local agencies, crisis nurseries, faith-based organizations and senior centers.
“We are helping thousands of families who live below the poverty line, and while we have been here for 22 years and have a good presence in the community ... there are still many people who don’t know about us. We are working to increase awareness of diaper need so that if people have diapers or incontinence supplies left over that they don’t need anymore they can bring them to us. They will definitely be used,” he said.
Diaper donations will literally “pack the vault” at the diaper bank’s new home. The new location is a former post office that offers 10,000 square feet of office and warehouse space as well as an actual vault.
Moxley said the goal is to stuff the safe with 50,000 diapers; currently the tally is about 25,000.
In addition to in-kind donations, monetary gifts are welcome. For every dollar donated, the Diaper Bank can distribute three dollars worth of incontinence supplies.
Finally, Moxley said the organization hopes to capitalize on the increased benefit of the Qualifying Charitable Organizations Tax Credit for 2016. The credit has doubled and allows a dollar-for-dollar credit of up to $400 for single or head of households or $800 for married taxpayers filing jointly on 2016 Arizona income taxes. Contributions can be made online at www.diaperbank.org/ by April 17, to be credited to the 2016 tax year.
“The tax credit is a good thing for us. Our goal is $20,000, and that would go toward purchasing more diapers and supporting our programs and operational costs. It takes lots of time, effort and expense to collect this volume of diapers and distribute them every month,” said Moxley.
