Friends,

My name is Chris. My mother, a piano prodigy in her native Taiwan, was an immigrant who came to America with an extraordinary talent. When she had my brother and me, though, she gave up her career as a concert pianist to put all her energy into her family. She began teaching me piano at 5, and she is the only piano teacher I’ve ever had.

She has instilled in our family a responsibility of giving back to the country that has given us so much.

Today, I am a managing director at a major financial institution in New York, but I also founded Two Piano Journey as a way to give back to my mom. (Read our full story here!) Together we travel the country to do benefit concerts that give back to communities. So far, we have raised more than $3 million for causes that matter to us.

On September 13, we’re returning to Jacksonville to play for Lutheran Social Services. Like so many other nonprofits that serve thousands of community residents, LSS is a victim of funding cuts that threaten the services struggling families turn to in times of crisis.

The LSS Food Pantry is one of its five crucial services, and it provided essential nutrition to 40,000 Jacksonville residents last year. The pantry, there for the community five days a week, is facing its own crisis. Food donations are down, meaning LSS is having to purchase more food than past years to keep its shelves stocked. At the same time, monetary donations are also down, because we are all dealing with the same inflation and economic instability that have made the pantry so critical.

LSS needs to raise $50,000 to ensure the pantry continues to be a resource for these families in need. I hope you’ll join me at Two Piano Journey. Because this concert isn’t just about beautiful music. It’s about what we can accomplish together.

Each $100 VIP ticket provides 10 food-insecure families with a week's worth of free, healthy groceries valued at $80. That means your VIP ticket not only feeds 10 families, but it allows those families to collectively redirect $800 back into our community for other needs, like child care or the gas to get to work.

And the impact grows, each time you scale the donation up. Imagine, with a $1,000 contribution, LSS can feed 100 families and put $8,000 back into the community!

As always, all of our programs rely on your generous donations. In addition to hunger relief, LSS services include:

Steps 2 Success – career/financial coaching that raises participants credit scores by 56 points and net income by $1,100/month, on average
Refugee Resettlement – helping legal refugees become self-sufficient and contributing members of our community within 90 days of arrival
ACE Program – comprehensive care for individuals living with HIV, so effective that 95% of clients are virally suppressed (that is, unable to pass HIV to others)
Rep Payee Services – bill payment and case management for those unable to manage their own finances due to severe mental illness or developmental disability