Uptown Café is known for their open mic nights, fund raisers and coffee in Farmville, Va. On Nov 19 from 7-9 p.m., David Rawls, a junior at Longwood University teamed up with Uptown Café and the Farmville Area Community Emergency Services (F.A.C.E.S.) to host live music with a food drive.
“We’ve done live music since we’ve been open. It’s a nice opportunity for us and the community,” said Jason Mattox, owner of Uptown Café.
To help reach out to students and residents of the community, there was a live musical performance in Uptown Cafe by Rawls. He began singing at events for the past two years ago and has helped raise awareness at events in the past such as Relay for Life.
“The event was great,” said Rawls. “There was a good turnout, and we had a good amount of cans and monetary donations, which included all of my tips for the night.”
F.A.C.E.S. was hoping a food drive would help bring some relief to the community. Each week 1,300 people from Prince Edward County and surrounding counties are fed, thanks to the work done by F.A.C.E.S. Food drives, such as the one at Uptown Cafe, is one of the more popular ways to gather canned goods or money to help those less fortunate with the upcoming holiday season.
“We are trying to reach out to all areas,” said senior Mandi Smith, a member of F.A.C.E.S.
All of the donations and proceeds went to F.A.C.E.S., and during his performance, Rawls pointed out to the crowd the importance of donating. With the coffee shop, food drive and live performance combined, it made the scene lively yet friendly to anyone who walked by.
“We do fund raising events for the campus. A lot of people come in to support (different) organizations,” said Mattox.
