Teens stage benefit concert

Kids Helping Kids, a concert by talented teens from around the Flathead Valley, will be held Thursday at the O'Shaughnessy Center in Whitefish at 7 p.m.

Participating in the concert are The Whitefish High School Vocal Ensemble; Feat by Feet, Montana's only performing tap company; Kyle Archer; Sara Tate; Lauren Wagner; Kayla Knight; Nathan Closson; Tess Fitzgerald and Matt Krause, to name a few.

Tickets will be sold at the door with a $10 minimum donation. Proceeds will go directly to The Palm Tree Institute of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, an orphanage supporting 64 children between the ages of 2 and 18 years; and toward medical expenses for a teenager named Ellis Nicholas, whose arm was severely mangled in a dive boats' propeller.

Fitzgerald, 17, of Whitefish was inspired to organize the event upon hearing of the two causes from Linda Woods, Whitefish resident, and Debbie Cooper, former Whitefish resident and Belizean artist.

Woods spent time in March at the orphanage and Cooper is a friend of Nicholas.

The Palm Tree Institute's annual operating budget is approximately $48,000. The orphange takes in older children and does not focus on adopting them into families but is designed to provide education and create a sense of family within the orphanage itself.

Friends of Cambodian Children is a nonprofit organization that provides much of the support for the orphanage. The organization has purchased more than 360 acres of land for a farm project to help keep the orphanage running, with orchards, gardens, row crops, palm oil, goats and chickens providing sustenance.

All of the group's money has been raised by private donations and by sales of native Cambodian handicrafts brought back to America.

Nicholas' friends raised money to send him from Belize to Guatemala where he received medical attention and surgery to save his arm. The fees are over $22,000 which the doctors and hospital are demanding be paid in six months.

Further surgeries are needed to remove tendons from his feet that will be inserted into the arm so he can regain mobility in his fingers.

Nicholas has no money and is in much pain recovering from the first surgery. A second surgery was also performed to address an infection that affected the remaining tendons.

A benefit sale of Cambodian goods will be held in the lobby before the performance.

To make donations or for information, call Tess Fitzgerald at 261-6675 or 863-2111.