Several local bands and musicians gathered on Saturday night to benefit homeless teenagers around Sacramento.

“It is a mostly forgotten subculture that’s right under our noses,” said singer Jean Fox before one of her songs.

The concert happened to benefit Sacramento’s homeless teenagers and support the WIND Youth Services program. It coincides with an art gallery by Kent Lacin also called Children of the WIND, currently displayed in the Sacramento State Library Gallery.

Several bands and musicians played and entertained the crowd while keeping people focused on the issues.

Starting out the night, Jerry and the Van Dykes took the stage. Their funky and upbeat style really got the crowd ready to rock and set the pace for the rest of the night.

“If you want to do something in this world, act on it,” said Fox during the Jerry and the Van Dykes performance in between songs.

The following band was Jean Fox and Friends. After playing a cover of Tom Petty’s “American Girl”, Jean also spoke to the crowd about the issue.

“We’re not homeless because we want to be,” said Jean Fox, repeating what a homeless teenager had said.

Following next was musician Justin Farren. With a nice touch of humor as well as wit and talent, Farren captivated the crowd and had everyone laughing throughout his entire set.

After Farren, Peter Holmes and Jean Fox did a couple of duets together and later did a trio including Jean’s husband, Mike Fox.

Later on that evening, the next band that came to stage was The Fox Bros. This band included three brothers Raymond, Jimmy and Mike. The Fox Bros. really got the crowd pumped and changed the tempo of the night.

The band members said they felt good to be playing again and the fun they were having spread to the crowd.

J.D. Rudometkin, Director of Development and Community Outreach for WIND, explained how WIND has been around since 1994 and helps homeless teenagers from ages 11 to 18.

“But sometimes we stretch it into the 20’s for some kids,” said Rudometkin.

Although the event was a fundraiser to get some money for the programs at WIND, Rudometkin and the others involved were more worried about getting the message out there and making people aware of the reality of teenage homelessness as well as the people working to help.

Andres Cuevas can be reached at [email protected]