Behind the Music: the Dave Matthews Band

The Dave Matthews Band will receive the Chairman's Award at the NAACP Image awards early next month, according to a press release on the NAACP website.

NAACP Board Chairman Julian Bond, who chooses the award's recipient, praised the group for its charitable gifts and active support of a multitude of diverse organizations. The group established the Bama Works Foundation which was formed in 1999 and has donated millions of dollars to support environmental groups, youth organizations, AIDS organizations, women's groups, and the homeless, to name just a few.

"The Dave Matthews Band demonstrated what commitment means in an artist---with their music and their generosity, they have made a difference in the lives of many," said Julian Bond. "To see and hear them is to recognize great talent; to learn of their good deeds is to recognize they are good souls."

Previous honorees include actor Danny Glover and former Commerce Secretary and Democratic National Committee Chairman Ron Brown.

Founded in 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its half-million adult and youth members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities and monitor equal opportunity in the public and private sectors. Learn more about the NAACP and the NAACP Image Awards, please visit the NAACP website .

To learn more about the Dave Matthews bands, the Bama Works Foundation, or the non-profit organizations, community programs, and charities they have supported, visit the Bama Works Foundation website .

Catholic Connections

"Every believer is called to serve 'the least of these,' to 'hunger and thirst for justice,' to be a 'peacemaker.' Catholics are called by God to protect human life, to promote human dignity, to defend the poor and to seek the common good. This social mission of the Church belongs to all of us. It is an essential part of what it is to be a believer...The most common and, in many ways, the most important Christian witness is often neither very visible nor highly structured. It is the sacrifice of parents trying to raise children with concern for others; the service and creativity of workers who do their best and reach out to those in need; the struggle of business owners trying to reconcile the bottom line and the needs of employees and customers; and the hard choices of public officials who seek to protect the weak and pursue the common good. The Church's social mission is advanced by teachers and scientists, by family farmers and bankers, by sales persons and entertainers."
Everyday Christianity: To Hunger and Thirst for Justice, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, November, 1999

Reflection Questions

What other entertainers do you know who have used their status to make a difference?

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