Spreading some hope and goodwill, Up with People comes to Naperville
Fresh out of high school in 1972, Skip Searcy of Naperville joined Up with People and traveled with other young adults to different countries giving performances, doing community service projects and getting exposure to the world that his upbringing in Denver didn't give him.
"It was an opportunity to get away and travel in a multicultural environment," Searcy recalled.
Up with People, a nonprofit organization formed in 1965 to spread a message of hope and goodwill, has performed over the years before heads of state and at Super Bowl halftimes. It is still going strong and coming to Naperville, thanks in part to Searcy and his family.
More than 30 years after Searcy's experience, his daughter, Elizabeth, a graduate of Naperville North High School, spent six months traveling with Up with People in 2008. She worked with the poor in Mexico and the Philippines and, like her father, will never forget the welcome the young people received.
"It changed me in so many ways," she said.
The Searcy family now is helping to share that experience with others by hosting staff members of Up with People when the group visits Naperville from March 11 to 16.
Ninety young people from 22 countries are staying with local families, doing community service projects, marching in Naperville's St. Patrick's Day Parade and performing high-energy, family friendly shows at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 13, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 14, at North Central College's Pfeiffer Hall, 310 E. Benton Ave.
"I'm so excited to be part of it and share it with the rest of the community," Elizabeth Searcy said. "It's an experience."
Naperville City Councilman Kenn Miller said he worked to bring the group here after meeting with Searcy. He put together a committee and found a financial sponsor in RR Donnelley and Sons after checking out the group's Web site.
"I said, 'This is Naperville,' the kind of message they provide, their show," Miller said. "I think this is something a little different."
Tickets to the Saturday and Sunday show, called "A Song for the World," are $25 for adults, $15 for seniors, and $10 for youth and students. Beneficiaries of the show's proceeds are the Heritage YMCA Group, KidsMatter, Kidz Kabaret, and NCO Youth and Family Services.
Kandiss Hernandez, founder of Kidz Kabaret, said that beyond whatever financial benefit her 400-member theater troupe receives, she is excited that some of them will be part of the show. Sixty members of Kidz Kabaret will perform with Up with People, a total of 30 for each show.
"We get to go on stage with Up with the People, which is really amazing," Hernandez said. "You couldn't ask for a better program."
The members of Up with People are between the ages of 17 and 29. They began their six-month tour in January and have traveled mostly in the Midwest so far. They'll leave Naperville for the Philippines and end in Mexico, said Erin Parrott, promotions representative with Up with People.
For 20-year-old Laura Curau of Switzerland, the tour is her first time outside Europe. Curau said she thought Americans would make fun of her accent, but hasn't found that to be the case.
"I was really surprised how open Americans are," Curau said. "I'm excited about every new city, every new host family."
In Fort Collins, Colo., Curau and other members of the Up with People filled huge water bottles with rice and beans for Haiti. While in the Naperville area, they'll give small performances at Kennedy Junior High School and Crone Middle School, visit several sites of the YMCA's Safe & Sound before- and after-school program, and help with a ThinkGlobal Arts project to put together educational binders for children in poorer countries.
"These young role models make such an impression on kids in the community," said Dee McDevitt, director of marketing and customer satisfaction at Heritage YMCA.
Host families like the Searcys will make personal acquaintance with members of the group. They previously had four young people in their home when the group performed in Chicago in 2008. Skip Searcy's wife, Kay, remembers it as a wonderful experience.
"They were lovely," she said. "Everyone we've been involved with have been polite, just a pleasure to have."
<p class="factboxheadblack">Up with People concerts</p>
<p class="News"><b>When:</b> 7 p.m. Saturday, March 13; 2 p.m. Sunday, March 14</p>
<p class="News"><b>Where:</b> North Central College's Pfeiffer Hall, 310 E. Benton Ave., Naperville</p>
<p class="News"><b>Cost:</b> $25 adults, $15 seniors 65 and older, $10 students and children</p>
<p class="News"><b>Info:</b> (630) 637-7469 or <a href="http://finearts.northcentralcollege.edu" target="new">finearts.northcentralcollege.edu</a></p>