| The
Story of Planet Gumbo
Since 1990, Bill "Sauce Boss" Wharton has been making
gumbo during his musical performances all over the US, in
Canada, and in Europe. What started out as a clever idea has
evolved into a total experience, breaking down the barriers
and blurring the lines between artist and audience. Indeed
it transforms audience into participants in community. Serving gumbo to his audience for free
has become his message of sharing and brotherhood. People
all over the land are listening more than ever to his metaphor
of us all being a big pot of gumbo. To bring his message to
the streets, Bill Wharton has created:
Planet Gumbo--The Foundation.!
The goals of Planet Gumbo are
1. Feed the needy--body and soul
2. Give hope and sustenance through music and the message
of the gumbo
3. Raise community awareness (and therefore the community
involvement) of the problems and solutions to the problems.
4. Provide a clearinghouse for information about programs
that can benefit homeless
5. Assist local organizations in their efforts to help those
in need
Planet
Gumbo has brought the Sauce Boss Gumbo show to cities everywhere
For a current list and to find out more about our other activities,
see link to Planet Gumbo Programs above
Inspiration for Planet Gumbo came
on November 13, 2002:
The Sauce Boss was invited to do a gumbo show at the Daily
Bread Soup Kitchen in Orlando, FL.
He says "That performance was a watershed because so many
things came together that gave us a template for what we do.
On that day I took my old 1933 National Steel guitar and my
gumbo pot down to play for the homeless at the soup kitchen.
I played and sang and spoke about the gumbo. The response
was absolutely incredible. The workers at the center said
they had never seen these people smiling, laughing, and talking
like this. It was totally energizing for me as well. But here's
the kicker. Not only did we feed the people in need, but we
also had a live feed via satellite to the local Fox News network
beaming the whole mess all over Orlando for the morning news
and that's a large market. Lots of people saw the faces of
a faceless problem."
In his performances, Bill Wharton says, "Why don't we forget
our differences for a moment, sit down to the dinner table,
treat each other like neighbors, then maybe we can work some
of this stuff out". Now, Planet Gumbo is a reality. Planet
Gumbo is a non-profit foundation that has receieved 501c3
tax exempt status. Bill Wharton is contributing resources
as well as his time to Planet Gumbo. Planet Gumbo is a super
cool place to live. Join
us.
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