Paddy Cooney and his wife, Elizabeth, on a recent trip to Ireland. Cooney’s wife works at LifePath Hospice of Sun City Center and gave Cooney the idea for the beneficiary of the concert.
Broadway tunes mixed with Irish ballads your cup of tea?
Head over to the United Methodist Church of Sun City Center, 1210 W. Del Webb Blvd., at 7 p.m. next Wednesday, Nov. 19, and you will find just the right mix of music to satisfy your musical palate.
The “Thank God for Hospice” concert is presented by the Irish Connection Club of Sun City Center and will feature songs by some legendary Irish crooners as well as Broadway favorites.
The evening will include not only songs but an award-winning Irish dancing troupe from Sarasota.
“The songs will be about 50/50 Irish and Broadway tunes. We will have singers performing numbers from Les Misérables and South Pacific,” said Paddy Cooney of the Irish Connection Club.
All donations from “Irish, Broadway & More” benefit LifePath Hospice of Sun City Center. The Irish club staged a fundraiser in May to benefit Alzheimer’s research, raising $1,100.
Picking hospice as its beneficiary this time was an easy choice for the club; Cooney’s wife, Elizabeth Wood, is a regular volunteer at the charity. “So we went to see the people at hospice and they said ‘we would love you to do that,’ and that’s how it happened,” Cooney said.
Cooney is hoping that between 300 and 500 turn out for the show, which would mean up to $5,000 for hospice. “But you never know until the day of the show,” he said.
The appeal of the chosen charity will help fill the seats, Cooney believes.
He said, “Everyone I speak with has had either a wife, a husband, a mother or child die at hospice, so everybody wants to donate. We have told people if they want to give more than $10, even $500, we will acknowledge that.”
Tickets are $10 and available at the United Methodist Church from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, or at the door the night of the concert.
For more information on the event, call Paddy, 813-938-5345, or Bonnie, 813-642-8663.
Cooney founded the 155-member Irish Connection Club in 2008. “We put a notice in the Observer and got inundated with calls and all that good stuff. You don’t have to be Irish to join the club, just have a soft spot for Ireland.”
