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“Boost Mobile RockCorps” is offering young music fans the chance to earn tickets to see Coldplay, 50 Cent, Eminem, Green Day, Erykah Badu, Queen Latifah, Jill Scott, and Van’s Warped tour this summer in exchange for four hours of service to their communities.
Boost Mobile RockCorps, an extension of the RockCorps volunteerism program, is partnering with non-profit agencies to organize 50 charity projects in major metropolitan areas around the U.S. this summer. The program seeks to “combine the power of music, community and volunteerism to breed a new generation of volunteers.”
The radio stations listed below are running programs for their areas:
Saturday, July 9 – Washington, DC
Station: WWDC – DC101
“Crank it up! Tune into DC101 and hook up with Volunteer Fairfax for a free ticket to see Coldplay”
Saturday, July 16 – Chicago, IL
Station: Q101 – 101.1
“Where do you go for everything alternative? Q1010! Listen tin to help Chicago Cares and Friends of the Forest Service Preserve. Help the forest get green, and you’ll have passes to Green Day”
Sunday, July 17 – Chicago, IL
Station: WGCI – 107.5
“Get in where you fit in at WGCI and score entry to refurbish Stanton Park and playgrounds at Cabrini Green. Putting in four hours of your time will earn you a free ticket to check out Erykah Badu, Queen Latifah and Jill Scott!”
Saturday, July 30 – Atlanta, GA
Station: WNNX – 99x
“Exercise your freedom of choice. Listen for your chance to clean up Beaverbrook Stream. Spend one day helping out, and you’ll spend a day at the Van’s Warped Tour!”
Sunday, July 31 – Atlanta, GA
Station: WHTA – Hot 107.9
“Keep your ear tuned to Hot 107.9 for your chance to clean up Carey’s Center for Mathematics and Technology with Hands on Atlanta. You’ll get 50 for only four hours of community service–50 Cent that is! Get into the Anger Management Tour and check out Eminem, too!”
Saturday, August 6 – Washington, DC
Station: WPGC – 99.5
“Join up with the Latin American Youth Center to renovate the Latin American Montessori Bilingual School – You’ll get into the Labor Day Mix Off for free!”
Selected Boost Mobile RockCorps member volunteers in New York will receive tickets to a nationally-televised concert event at Radio City Music Hall on Sept. 24 with artists to be announced. See the organization’s site for more details.
The program began in June in Los Angeles when Hollenbeck Middle School was spruced up and invasive plants were cleared from the Malibu Creek Watershed. In exchange for their efforts, volunteers received tickets to either Mike Jones in Long Beach or the Electric Daisy Carnival, featuring Louis XIV, The Donnas, Ozomatli, Jurassic 5 and The Crystal Method.
On July 2 and 3 the Corps gathered to help out Friends of the Mississippi River and Central Community Housing Trust in the Minneapolis/St.Paul area and received tickets to either Akon or White Stripes.
RockCorps was created in 2002 “to affect social change and act as the bridge between communities in need and the young adults who want to make them better.”
According to research prepared by Wagner Research & Consulting for Boost Mobile, most 14 to 34 year olds regardless of ethnicity, age, or gender claimed that they would prefer to earn the tickets via community service rather than pay the going rate of $100 per ticket to a concert. Further, the organization claims that more than half of the young people return to volunteer again after the concert is over.
Maybe they are on to something.
