By Grace Givan, executive entertainment editor 
The Guitar Club is going to have a benefit concert for the non-profit organization Lemons of Love on Dec. 8 in Prospect’s theater from 6:00 to 9:00. Several guitarist will be playing, and guitars and amps will be raffled off.
“These kids have been working on this separate from school, developing a lot of talents, really working hard,” Dr. Jay Kyp-Johnson, Guitar Club sponsor, said. “You know, if you could see some of these performers they’re sort of unbelievable… and now here’s an opportunity for them to get a little limelight.”
It is a win-win situation to give recognition to these musicians while spreading the word of Lemons of Love, according to junior Claire Galloway, the student spearheading this fundraiser.
This benefit concert is student driven, and Lemons of Love, a non-profit organization that gives care packages to patients in chemotherapy, was also chosen by Galloway.
“I really liked the idea of little care packages to chemo patients because I can’t imagine how hard that is to go through, and I think care packages are something to just brighten someone’s day.”
Galloway and the founder of this organization, Jill Swanson Peltier, are sharing a common goal for this benefit concert: spreading the word about Lemons of Love, which is opening a new location in Mt. Prospect.
In the care packages provided by Lemons of Love, they put things that can be used by all types of cancer patients whether it be lung cancer, colon cancer, or breast cancer.
When Peltier was diagnosed with stage three Colon Cancer, she put together these items to people could cope with how her life would be for the next several months. During Chemotherapy, patients’ immunity systems are compromised, so things put in the packages are geared to being clean and entertaining for when patients are sitting in hours of Chemotherapy.
Kyp-Johnson affirms that these packages help, as he has had cancer before.
“I’m a cancer survivor, I know these people do important work,” Kyp-Johnson said. “And when you have cancer you get sort of lonely. You are into your own battle, [and] you know that despite the fact that maybe a lot of people out there would want to be supportive, you really don’t want [your sickness] to be the center of conversation … So this is an organization that supports people in their time of feeling like they are very, very isolated.”