GOLDSTEIN: Saxophonist Dave McLaughlin pays it forward by helping others
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As a child growing up in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Dave McLaughlin never forgot the lessons he learned while attending Sunday services with his family at their parish church.
The act of charity, he was taught, was not merely an option or something you did for personal aggrandizement, but a commandment from God because, “blessed are those who consider the poor.”
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Years later, now a teenager, a visiting music professor from Indiana State University inspired him at a turning point in his young life to pursue his musical passion for playing the saxophone, because, he said, McLaughlin was “a natural”.
That moment of encouragement gave him the confidence he needed to keep practicing, eventually becoming a world-class musician, performing around the world, opening for the likes of the late, legendary Ray Charles.
Emigrating to Canada in 1991, McLaughlin became a Canadian citizen and, settling in Toronto, formed the popular Dave McLaughlin Band, which today performs at corporate functions, weddings and other social events.
But he never forgot the lessons he learned in his youth in Jamaica — the importance of charity and of encouraging young people to pursue their dreams.
For that reason, McLaughlin regularly holds gospel fundraising concerts in and around Toronto to raise funds for charitable causes and award scholarships to young people in the GTA needing a moment of encouragement in their lives. He also donates a portion of the CD sales of his music to charity.
“Every child can grow up to become anything — a doctor, a lawyer or a criminal and we have to help them make the right choices,” McLaughlin says in explaining his motivation to “pay it forward” — honouring the music professor who helped him at a key moment in his life — by helping others.
His latest concert, this one to raise funds for children living in poverty in his homeland, will be held on Saturday at the Scarborough 7th Day Adventist Church, 4350 Lawrence Ave. E., starting at 7 pm.
McLaughlin will be performing with his band and an array of gospel singers and guest speakers.
Tickets are $25 at the door and McLaughlin can be reached for further information at 647-655-7811.
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