A Giraffe's been sighted in
your territory!
The Giraffe Project , a national non-profit
organization, has commended Bob Rowe for
sticking his neck out for the common good.
The crowd is fidgety with
anticipation. The tall, lanky singer strolls in
and begins singing "Oh, Lord It's Hard to Be
Humble" and the crowd goes wild. Well as wild as
people in wheelchairs, on walkers or
canes--median age: 83--may get. They smile, clap
their hands, and tap their toes. Many are
remarkably transformed. One was a man who hadn't
spoken a word to anyone for years. When Bob
Rowe, musician extraordinaire started singing,
the long-silent, elderly man began to sing and
according to the nursing home staff, hasn't stop
talking since.
Rowe founded a non-profit,
volunteer artists' group in 1988. Its mission is
to bring the arts to residents of nursing homes
and other care facilities, including homes for
veterans and the developmentally disabled,
across the country. Over the years, Rowe and
other volunteer musicians and artists have
presented over hundreds of programs nationwide.
Rowe, who taught himself the
guitar at age 16, credits two vivacious
grandmothers for making him feel so comfortable
with and connected to the elderly.
Rowe sings and plays hymns,
patriotic tunes, folk songs, pop music from the
20's and 30's, and contemporary country. In
recruiting other musicians he looks for those
with "a real touch and a real contact" with the
audience. The program has drawn well-known
artists and has earned endorsements from Leo
Buscaglia, President Clinton and Mother Teresa,
who urged Rowe to "continue to use music to make
the presence of God--his love and his
compassion--better known to those most in need."
Like Mother Teresa, Rowe
believes that people are both spirit and body,
and while nursing homes usually do a good job of
meeting residents' physical needs, on a
spiritual level residents are "withering
away."Renaissance performances not only
transform residents, but artists as well.
"Renaissance brings the energy of youth to the
audience and brings the lessons of aging to the
performers," sans Rowe. "It's not just a musical
performance, it's a time of education, a time of
communciation."
Rowe has recorded a CD,
"Coming Home Again," and hopes proceeds will
enable the organization to become financially
independent. "Nobody's going to benefit
financially from this except the elderly," says
Rowe. "I would be a hypocrite if I didn't back
up my words with my own life...It's risky;
sometimes it's scary, but I think its even
scarier to do something mediocre." "Commercial
rewards can be wiped out in a minute. But no one
can ever take away spiritual rewards."
