Student Bands Will Rock 'n' Roll To Buy Books For Guatemalan School Wednesday

One local girl is turning up the volume on spreading literacy to those across the border.   

Twelve-year-old Molly Frey is fundraising to buy books for a newly built elementary school library in Guatemala. To do that, she invited local student bands to take the stage and play in the upcoming Battle of the Bands for Books. 

“I’m happy to do that for them [the children of Guatemala],” said Molly, a student at Grover Cleveland Middle School. “They’ll be able to learn to read" with the books that we will buy for them.

The service project is for Molly’s upcoming bat mitzvah, but the idea originated in 2011 when the family traveled to Santa Maria de Jesus in Guatemala with the New Jersey-based nonprofit organization From Houses to Homes. The Frey’s traveled to Central America as part of Molly’s brother Sath’s own bar mitzvah project to build a home for a needy family. 

At that time, a brand new school named Escuela Kemna’oj was being constructed in the Guatemalan village, said Molly’s mother Ronni. When the family asked how they could help, Ronni Frey said a representative of From Houses to Homes said, “We have a brand new library here but we have no books in the library, and these kids desperately need to learn to read.”

Molly was also adopted as an infant from Guatemala, and the project is a way for her to give something back to the children of Guatemala, said Ronni Frey. In addition, she added that it gives local student bands an opportunity a little show time. 

“The end result is kids in Guatemala will have a lot of new books to read. That will dramatically change their lives,” said Ronni Frey.

Molly is not in a band, but her older brother will play with his band Los Primos that night. The evening will be hosted by DJ Zap Music, and set list also includes GNGR, Zenith, The Eighth Notes, Holographic Jellyfish, Whitford Five, Faux Johnny and The Renaissance Rock Band.

Battle of the Bands for Books will be held Wednesday, Nov. 6, from 7-10 p.m. at the Montclair Women’s Club at 82 Union Street. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. There will be food and drinks for sale, too.

All proceeds from the concert will benefit the library of an elementary school in Guatemala.