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Ceres Davis bringing Marty Stuart to town
Oct. 13 Gallo Center event raising funds for international wheelchair distribution
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Country musician Marty Stuart will team up with The Byrds co-founder Roger McGuinn to perform an Oct. 13 benefit concert for Hope Haven West, a local organization that provides wheelchairs to the disabled poor in Third World countries. Stuart is donating his time for the effort at the behest of Lonny Davis, a member of the Ceres Rotary Club. - photo by Contributed to the Courier

Lonny Davis, owner of Davis Guest Home in Ceres and a local Rotary Club member, is bringing five-time Grammy winner Marty Stuart, and co-founder of the Byrds, Roger McGuinn to the Gallo Center for the Arts on Sunday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m.

The concert is a benefit for Hope Haven West, a local organization that provides wheelchairs to the disabled poor throughout the world.

McGuinn and Stuart are an unbeatable combo, but for guitar fans, the show offers even more. While it may not be a Byrds reunion, it's a reunion of sorts for one very famous guitar and folk icon McGuinn, and a reunion of sounds as Clarence White's infamous "B Bender" Guitar blends again with Roger's signature 12-string Rickenbacker.

The roots of Hope Haven West generated from Hope Haven International, headquartered in Rock Valley, Iowa, and the determination of one man to do what he could to help the disabled poor. Davis participated as a volunteer in wheelchair distributions with several organizations, finally connecting with Hope Haven International. As he grew more involved with the work of Hope Haven, he began putting together his own distributions with teams from the West Coast.

In 2002 Davis joined the Ceres Rotary Club, shared his experiences with like-minded Rotarians, and the number of distributions, of volunteers, of fundraising and grant opportunities took off. The first West Coast Rotary-related distribution took place in Guatemala in 2004. Since that time dozens of distributions have taken place, the most current to Columbia in early August, 2013. The next distribution is scheduled for Bolivia in December.

Two years ago, Davis began bringing artists to the area as benefits for Hope Haven and other local charities. This year, the organization incorporated as a 501 (c) 3 tax exempt organization and exists solely to act as a fund-raising mechanism that benefits Hope Haven West and other select local charities. A previous concert was a benefit for Redwood House and in November we will be bringing Mumbo Gumbo to the State Theater as a benefit for the Global Orphan Project and Be The Power of One, both working in Haiti.