Rock Stars, Kids Join to Aid Hospice

The kids in Mirman School’s seventh-grade community service class are on a roll.

Let them loose on the nation’s budget deficit. Send them to the Middle East. They seem to have a knack for pulling off the big play.

A few months ago, youngsters who attend the private Santa Monica school decided to help a charity, TrinityKids Care, a pediatric hospice that provides home care to terminally ill children and their families.

The seventh-graders, led by 13-year-old Matthew Geffner, thought that putting on a student concert to raise money for TrinityKids would be a cool idea. But these Mirman students don’t think small. They wanted Linkin Park, a Grammy-winning Los Angeles group that is among the hottest tickets in rock, and they wanted the House of Blues.

On Monday they put it all together in a benefit that attracted more than 800 screaming fans, raised more than $85,000 for the charity and left everyone involved a little dazed by it all.

“I was in the front dancing with all my friends, just having so much fun and feeling like it was incredible to get this great opportunity,” Matthew said. That a gaggle of 12- and 13-year-olds was able to pull off such a feat is a testament to their determination, the warmheartedness of a group of hard rockers and the ability of dogs to make their owners chummy with one another. More on that later.

“It was a longshot, and we got so lucky,” Matthew, sitting with a group of fellow students who coordinated the benefit, said modestly. “We were originally going to put on a small dance at school with a B-list band. But it got bigger and bigger.”

When the students decided they wanted to take on a project to get credit in their community service class, Matthew approached Brook Dougherty, a family friend who runs a small marketing firm that works with nonprofit groups.

Dougherty said she was impressed by their ambition and commitment. And the cause they embraced was close to their hearts--one of their classmates had become gravely ill.

But their chances of getting a group like Linkin Park were slim to none, Dougherty thought. And then another of the fortuitous coincidences that has seemed to hover over the project fell into place.

Dougherty’s daughter had been watching television one evening when she shouted out, “Mom, we’re on MTV.” The program, “Cribs,” profiles rock stars at home and on that night featured Linkin Park.

Dougherty caught a glimpse of her neighborhood and discovered that band member Chester Bennington and his wife, Samantha, lived across the street. Samantha Bennington and Dougherty had frequently encountered each other walking their dogs.

When the students said they wanted Linkin Park for their benefit, Dougherty knocked on the Benningtons’ door at 11 p.m. to deliver a letter the students had worked on for days.

“I was just taken by the whole story,” said Samantha Bennington. “Chester and I are very much involved with charities, as is the entire band. As soon as he got home, I talked to him. He discussed it with the band, and there was no hesitation--they all said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

Linkin Park exploded in popularity last year with a best-selling album that mixes rap and rock through songs that speak to the rage, bewilderment, vulnerability and yet hopefulness of youth. The six-member band won a Grammy at last month’s award ceremony for best hard rock performance.

The group had played on a San Diego radio station for a Red Cross benefit after Sept. 11. But this was its first in-person charity event, which members promoted on their Web site and in interviews.

“It worked out the way it did because it was so genuine,” Chester Bennington said. “It wasn’t like they wanted new uniforms for the football team. New uniforms are important, but it’s just not the same as helping seriously ill kids. The students have done something really great, and it came from a sincere place.”

After Linkin Park signed on, the group approached the House of Blues, which agreed to host the benefit.

The students met on campus each week, planning their special night, enlisting volunteers, designing menus and writing letters to each member of Linkin Park to express their gratitude.

At the concert they also got to meet young kids who are battling life-threatening illnesses.

Ten-year-old Alan Garcia, suffering from a brain tumor, was there with his mom, Angie; dad, Abel; and 13-year-old brother, Abel Jr. “I’m very excited,” said Alan, who celebrated a birthday last week. “I know a lot of their songs.”

As he waited to meet the band, he proudly showed off an autograph he’d gotten from comedian Robin Williams through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

But Alan is a budding rock drummer, and when Linkin Park drummer Rob Bourdon handed him a pair of autographed sticks, he didn’t know what to say.

Trinity Care Hospice President Claire Tehan said the evening was like a dream for her organization, which last year opened TrinityKids Care as a specialized pediatric division of the Torrance hospice.

“It’s not only having kids helping kids and the money they will raise, but getting the word out to parents that this service is available,” she said.

The Mirman students, meanwhile, got double credit for their project, Matthew said. But they’re not through.

“After the concert, we went home and just slept a lot,” he said. “But we’ve already met with Brook to talk about what’s next. Everybody wants to do something else.”