Davy Jones News
A Winner!
T.E. Jones, Davy's prized thoroughbred horse, named for his daughter Talia, came in First Place at Gulfstream Park on Sunday, April 18th 2004. Davy and the band were performing in Orlando at the EPCOT Flower Power Festival when they received the news. Davy had every confidence that T.E. would triumph and she did not disappoint! T.E. Jones was jockeyed by Hernan Parra.
Update on Talia's Marathon Talia finished the Marathon in 4 hours and 32 minutes! The race was in Hawaii, and Davy surprised Talia by traveling to Hawaii to watch her compete! Talia was thrilled to have her Dad on hand, and gave Davy her finisher's medal from the race! Thanks to everyone who helped sponsor Talia by sending in a contribution to the National Aids Marathon. |
Davy Jones of The Monkees fame lends name to fund-raiserBy JEFF FISHBEIN BEAVERTOWN -- Davy Jones has been generous to the area since he took up residence in western Snyder County 20 years ago. The singer, known best as the front man for The Monkees, has given again, taking on the role of honorary chairman for the Middlecreek Area Community Center's 800 Club campaign. For Jones, community service comes naturally -- his sisters ran a youth club when he was growing up, and his mother was a church organist. Facilities like the MACC are fitting, too, he said, because he benefited from community activities as a lad. Charitable organizations have known for years that a good first step in a major fund-raising effort is to find a celebrity to speak for the cause. For that reason alone, Jones was an obvious choice -- although his involvement initially only was supposed to be as a donor. Jones was a likely candidate for a $1,000 800 Club donation, campaign chairman Al Phillips thought. So the board members approached Jones, and did get what they were looking for -- and then a bit more. Jones agreed to lend his name to the cause. "Al and I were soliciting, and we thought, Davy being a celebrity, certainly should have some contacts. Also, he should probably have some money," board member Donald Moyer said. "Al came up with the idea and presented him with the concept of becoming our honorary chairperson." That, Phillips, said, is worth far more than a check. "I look at it this way: If you're going to send a letter out to a corporation, (our) names have no public recognition," Phillips explains. "But if those letters were signed by Davy Jones, resident of Beavertown, who says that one of the biggest things he likes is that you can see family here," well, the likelihood of a donation increases. Jones knows that this project will require an exceptional way to raise money. "In order to raise money these days, you need a few Hollywood ideas, or people aren't going to go for it," he said. "You can penny ante, and raise a couple thousand here and there, but we're not talking about that kind of money. We need a lot more money than that, so the community can benefit." As much as he'd like to do a benefit performance, he knows that won't give the center the kind of support it's looking for. "Say I was to do a concert, for instance, for 300 people, and you charge $10 each, that's $3,000. That wouldn't even pay for my musicians," he said. But he knows there are other ways the money can be raised, and he's not afraid to make suggestions -- even unusual ones. "Please put the center in your will. Why not?" he said. "There's a lot of quiet money all over the place. There's all kinds of ways of doing it." He even looks beyond the $800,000 the center hopes to bring in through the "I think a goal of a million dollars would be a wonderful place to go, to clear up all the debts and have some operating money. It sounds like a lot of money when you say it slowly," he says, and then jokes, "So you say it real quickly. "How it's going to happen I'm not quite sure." Jones' involvement in charity includes a fund that goes toward the fight against Multiple Sclerosis, because his niece died of complications from the disease. He also played a role in saving the branch library in Beavertown, when Snyder County Library officials talked of eliminating it. "I've never been really directly involved, other than my own quiet contributions," he said. "It does say in the Bible when you do an act of charity you don't announce it with a flourish of trumpets." But, he said, he does want to be remembered as more than a Monkee. And, he said, he'd rather do what it takes to be remembered now, rather than after he's gone. "If I'm able to assist and use my "celebrity" to be able to have somebody look at something a little further than they would, that's worth something to me," he said. "Whatever I can do for the center, that's going to enrich my life."
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