When 12-year-old Christos Couturier was hospitalized for surgeries related to down syndrome, College of Communication alumna Mary McManus wanted to lend a helping hand.
Inspired, McManus planned a benefit at Boston University to raise money for Children’s Hospital Boston, where Couturier and others are treated.
“I always felt the need to give back,” she said.
On Saturday, more than 450 BU students, faculty, and members of the Boston community gathered at the benefit to listen to a cappella groups and show their support through donations.
Performances ranged from BU’s Dear Abbeys to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Logarhythms.
Jordan Rich of WBZ Boston MC’d the concert with the help of Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore.
Elmore compared the concert to an old fashioned barn, where people came together, connected with one another and invested as a community.
Rich described the benefit “a hall full of miracles,” as audience members danced in their seats to a vast array of music ranging from David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” to Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name.”
To cap the evening off, Ball in the House, the Boston-based a capella group and winners of “America’s Got Talent,” performed Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed and Delivered.”
BU students who participated in the concert said it exceeded their expectations.
“All the other groups came on stage to sing with them. Everyone was on their feet and clapping,” said College of Fine Arts senior and Music Director of Dear Abbeys Tommy Barth. “We never thought it’d be as explosive as it turned out to be.”
Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences sophomore Cristie Siegele said she attended to represent the Rotary Group of Brookline and to take tickets and hand out programs.
“Mary [McManus] spoke to us and was very motivational about the need for volunteers,” Siegele said.
During the intermission the audience was treated to raffle prizes such as Bruins tickets and free massages.
McManus, COM ’76, who was diagnosed with polio, said she planned her first benefit in 2009 to give back to the Spaulding Rehabilitation Center, which helped her walk again.
The benefit concert raised more than $5,000 for the hospital. Most of the proceeds came from tickets, which were sold for $10 before the event and $12 at the door.
McManus said she considered the benefit a great success as it beat her original goal by more than $1,000.
“I feel so blessed beyond words,” she said.
Although Couturier could not leave the hospital, his family attended the concert, which was filmed so that he could view it later that night.
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