On Friday, January 29, Colgate Activities Board and the Konosioni Senior Honor Society held a benefit a capella concert for the Madison County Gives Foundation at the Chapel. The Madison County Gives  Foundation is comprised of seven not for profit organizations, including Food Bank of Central New York, Hamilton Food Cupboard, Community Bikes, Community Action Partnership, Camp Fiver, Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees and Friends of Rogers. Each group impacts Hamilton, New York, as well as surrounding communities.  

Konosioni member Christopher Noda introduced the groups throughout the night. The Colgate Resolutions started off the concert with a 7 Nation Army song, wowing the crowd. They followed it with Ray Lamontagne’s, “You Are The Best Thing.” The Swinging Gates, Colgate’s all female a capella group, came up next. Dressed in all black, the Gates sang a moving rendition of Bon Iver’s, “For Emma,” and followed it up with, “Breakeven” by The Script. Both were crowd favorites. The Dischords took the stage next. They sang the famous a capella group Pentatonix’s original song, “I’ll Run To You.” It was a slower song, but the group’s precision brought chills to the audience. They followed this with Imagine Dragon’s popular hit, “Radioactive.” 

The Mantiphondrakes energenetically followed. They started their performance with, “Wake Me Up” by Avicii, and finished the set with a unique rendition of Zedd’s “Clarity.” Last but not least, the Colgate Thirteen finished off the night. Their first song was a version of Toto’s “Africa” that made the crowd swoon. Full of energy, the Thirteen finished their set with a mashup of Daft Punk’s “Lose Yourself to Dance” and “Get Lucky,” two songs well known by the audience.

Throughout the night each group encouraged audience members to donate to Madison County Gives, revealing that they had already earned over $400. Noda stressed the importance of giving back to the community that surrounds Colgate. 

“Konosioni has three tenants – tradition, leadership and service. Service is what this pillar, this event, fell under. The service that we do is for these organizations specifically, but also for the general Colgate community. We’ve hosted events like the Torchlight Brown Bag, facilitating conversation about how to improve the community.” Noda said. 

 Noda explained how Konosioni holds events to sponsor charities, but how they also do direct service, such as their Week of Service, where each member goes to an organization they sponsor and provides two to three hours of service. 

“Generally we have people who volunteer on a weekly basis,” Noda said. 

As people exited the chapel, they stopped at the table set up in the lobby to donate and talk to Konosioni members about ways to get involved on campus and in the community. Events like these spark interest in community service and serve as more than just Friday night entertainment.