“A benefit concert for Langley’s Giraffe Project will be given on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 7:30 p.m. at the Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, by internationally-known singer Rainey Lewis, backed by an all-star band led by Tom Kellock, musical director for Al Jarreau, Manhattan Transfer and Melissa Manchester.Tickets are $15, at Whidbey CyberC@fe, Island Framery in Clinton, the Giraffe Project in Langley, Whidbey’s Coffee, Langley, Whidbey Stationers and Island Athletic Club, Freeland; and at the WICA box office the evening of the performance – 221-8268.A silent auction in the lobby of the theater will feature numerous items donated by members of the island community. Among them are a small bell from ironwork artist Jeff Holtby; picture frames from Langley Drug; carved wood candlesticks from Virginia’s Antiques; a copy of “The Bungalow” from Moonraker Books; Amy Forest silver earrings from Wayward Son; French soaps, a soapdish and glass from The Cottage; gift certificates from Joe’s Island Music, Roberta’s and Big Sister; lunch and breakfast at Sapori and dinner at the Coupeville Captain’s Galley and Langley’s Village Pizzeria; getaways at Spink’s Ocean View, The Inn at Langley and the Sylvia Beach Hotel, the famous oceanfront bed and breakfast for booklovers in Newport, Oregon.Ticket holders are also warmly encouraged to extend their donation and meet the performers at an after-show party, with wine donated by the Star Store and desserts by Spink’s Ocean View. Cost is $3 for a glass of wine, $2 for brownies, lemon bars and homemade apple pie. All proceeds of the evening will be donated to The Giraffe Project.RAINEYGuitarist, singer, composer, stone sculptor, artist and now suspense novelist, Rainey Lewis was born in 1961 in Memphis, Tenn., and by 1968 had written and recorded her first song, “On Christmas Eve,” with Chips Moman, legendary American Studios producer of such hits as “Suspicious Minds” and “In the Ghetto” for Elvis Presley.In 1974 and 1975 she wrote and recorded albums for Memphis producers Dan Penn (The Box Tops‚ B.J. Thomas’s “Hooked On A Feeling”) and Steve Cropper (guitar player with Booker T. and the M.G.’s. The Blues Brothers). She moved to New Orleans and played her guitar on the streets of the Vieux Carré for tips; formed a rock and roll band; played for Mardi Gras; and wrote and recorded a national Popeye’s Fried Chicken commercial which stopped the Super Bowl when it was played over the loud-speaker system and 70,000 people all sang it with her.She has played the Southern road-house circuit from Houston to Atlanta and New Orleans, and went for a three month Department of Defense tour to Europe and the Near East to entertain American troops. In 1980 she was nominated “Most Promising New Artist of the Year” by the Country Music Association.Rainey moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and until 1992 played with musicians such as Steve Farris (guitarist of Mr. Mister) and Bob Birch (bass player for Elton John); studied acting and dance in Hollywood and appeared in various productions; wrote music for TV shows and movies (“Fame,” “Iron Eagle”; wrote songs for Tina Turner (“Another Day at the Rock”); and became a regular on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon show “Alvin and The Chipmunks” as the voice of Alvin’s girl friend Brittany.Moving to the Northwest in 1992, where she now lives with her husband Rob and two young sons, Rainey built a new studio and in 1993 completed her rock opera, “Hunchback” including which she staged, produced and directed in 1998, with a cast and crew of 50 in a five-week run at the King Cat Theater.She has just signed a recording contract with EMI/ BMG Europe for the European and Asian release of the single “Wild Lives,” with an album planned to follow. She is currently writing and recording a jazz album projectin her studio in Seattle with Windham Hill artist Hank Curtis. She has also been hired to write the score and theme song for the new television pilot shooting here on South Whidbey called Possession Point.“I’m loving all the songs I’m getting to sing these days, in all the different families of music,” Rainey said. “I feel that by singing for the Giraffes I’m getting to sing for the future, for my own kids and for everyone else’s. I can’t think of any kind of work that’s more important than that of developing character and a sense of ethics in our kids.”“The Giraffes bring the true stories of the everyday heroes of all ages that are sticking their own necks out for their schoolmates, for their communities, for everyone else’s good. The work of the Giraffe Project has to keep going, because they are teaching the kids that they can really make a difference in this world.”Giraffe project honors those who ‘Stick Their Necks Out’Every day, somewhere across the United States, people “stick their necks out and stand tall for what they believe in.” They’re heroes, taking a risk, whether they’re adults fighting censorship, patrolling crime ridden neighborhoods and helping destitute kids in other countries, or young teens making hundreds of sandwiches each weekend to feed the homeless. And to a national nonprofit organization based in Langley, they’re Giraffes.The Giraffe Project has been finding these “Giraffes” since 1982.“America needs people with vision and courage — people who are willing to stick their necks out and take responsibility for solving tough problems, from violence to hunger to pollution,” says the mission statement of The Giraffe Project. And in telling the stories of these Giraffes, project co-founders Anne Medlock and John Graham hope they will inspire others to stick their own necks out for the common good.“There’s a real difference between these real hero stories and those about news and celebrity idols,” Medlock said.The Project’s media service has gotten Giraffes’ stories on all the major television networks and in hundreds of publications, including The New York Times, Parade, Time, Scholastic and People. The Giraffe Project is also a nonprofit educational publishing house, providing a story-based character-education curriculum for grades K-12 called the Giraffe Heroes Program, teaching “courageous compassion and active citizenship” by telling students the stories of real-life heroes and sending them out into their own neighborhoods to find more.“There are no lectures,” Medlock said. “The curriculum assumes good things about kids. They’re not being treated like thugs.”In the final phase of the program, the kids create and carry out a service project they design themselves to address a community problem that concerns them.“It’s kid driven. They make their own choices about what they want to do,” Medlock said. “It allows them to sign on wholeheartedly.”The stories of these student projects can take on Giraffe-like proportions of their own:In Tampa, Fla., first graders helped a classmate with leukemia attend class electronically through computers; second graders chose child abuse as a project that concerned them and collected over 400 stuffed animals for children at a crisis center; children in North Carolina “adopted” hospice patients; Kent, Ohio kids collected thousands of books for reservation schools.Early on, the Giraffe Project recorded radio spots with people like Dick Cavett, John Denver, Raoul Julia and Celeste Holm, then sent them on LPs to stations for use as PSAs.“It was part of original function: free flack for heroes, PR for the unknown,” Medlock said. As the news about the Giraffe Project spread and publications like Parade Magazine asked people to “nominate a Giraffe,” the stories began to pour in.“They are all kept in files and in a database, then quarterly we jury to decide who are the real Giraffe’s,” she said. “There’s no quota, no minimum number of heroes. We write up a profile and send stories to the media, and keep the storybank for our schools material.”The “free feed” is a way the Giraffe Project hopes to change society.“Too many people are paranoid, paralyzed because they believe there is nothing they can do about things that are wrong,” Medlock said. “It’s not true. These stories say, ‘Look at what he or she did.’ We have a responsibility to make sure people have this information, so they don’t freeze up.”It’s part of what Medlock believes is of paramount importance: “training tomorrow’s heroes — the kids who see they can change things.”The Giraffe Project is continuing its efforts in new ways as well: Giraffe Projections is developing television programming for families and for children, based on Giraffe stories and themes; a handbook for parents is in progress, called “Raising Giraffes: How to raise kids who stand tall in an ostrich world”; a revised high school curriculum expected to be printed and in schools by November.This last includes a giraffe icon in various poses — from “thinking about it” to becoming a “zombie” by drugging or drinking themselves out of reality. The illustrations are the work of award-winning cartoonist Art Bouthillier. He is only one of many island artists and writers who have contributed their expertise to the various publications: from cover art production (Scot Gaznier) to video mastering engineer (Steve Trembley at 7th Fret Studio) and reviewers (Dr. Michael Rothenberg, co-author with Dr. Spock of “Baby and Child Care.” And then there are “Kindergarten field testers extraordinaire”: Cailyn and Ali McManus and Brittany Smothers.The Giraffe Project also received a grant from Steven Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation, with which they are developing a special version of the curriculum that will be used in Jewish schools and summer camps.“We are very proud of that grant,” Medlock said.It is the grant situation, however, that has worried Medlock and the Giraffe Project recently. The project is supported by grants from foundations across the country, including Kellogg, Ford, Glaser, Toyota, Kettering and others.“The project has brought over $4 million in grants through here,” Medlock said. Most of that money has gone into the local economy via its payroll of Southend staffers and fees paid to local service providers, she added.“But this summer, foundation grants fell sharply.”Several were not well invested in the market, Medlock noted, and some have skipped a whole funding cycle.“We’ve found ourselves in a fund-raising crisis,” she said. “For the first time, we’ve appealed to the community. We did a mailing, and one result was this gift from Rainey and Rob Lewis, who are hiring the theater and presenting this benefit concert.” Many other local establishments have donated goods for the silent auction and the after-show party, she added, contributing to the effort and joining the many others in the island community who are lending their support.<"