Inspirit benefit concert celebrates late founder’s musical legacy
Proceeds from March 29 Bamboo Room event will support Lake Worth Beach nonprofit's mission to bring music to the needy
The legacy of Ginny Meredith, a Lake Worth Beach creative force who died Jan. 14, will be celebrated March 29 at a benefit concert for Inspirit, the influential music nonprofit she founded in 2001.
Inspirit musicians have brought roughly 24,000 performances to more than 75,000 people at nursing homes, children’s centers, memory care units, hospitals, youth detention facilities and other places.
To spotlight the group’s accomplishments over the past quarter century, Inspirit’s board last year started planning for a fundraising concert called “Live at 25,” originally scheduled for Jan. 23, 2026.
The event was postponed when Meredith, who’d bravely fought breast cancer since 1998, went into hospice.
It has been rescheduled for March 29 at the Bamboo Room in downtown Lake Worth Beach where nine musical acts will perform from 2-8 p.m. to raise money for the nonprofit.
More than just a fundraiser, it’ll be a musical celebration of Meredith, whose cancer diagnosis inspired her to create Inspirit and bring what she called “the healing power of music” to people in need.
“We are dedicating it to Ginny, to celebrate her role in founding and running Inspirit for so many years and really being the inspiration for everything we do now,’’ said musician Mike Anglin, Inspirit’s board president and Meredith’s life partner since 2016.
Attendees are asked to make a minimum donation of $35 in advance or $45 at the door. Tickets are available at https://www.inspiritlive.org/live-at-25/.
Tickets purchased for the originally-scheduled Jan. 23 show will be honored on March 29.
The proceeds will offer much-needed support to an organization that has operated the last three years on a shoestring budget and a volunteer staff.
Meredith launched Inspirit in 2001 with a $10,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Palm Beach and Martin counties and a steadfast belief in the healing power of music.
She modeled it after Heart and Soul, a similar program in Salt Lake City that she discovered not long after her cancer diagnosis. During a ski vacation to Utah, she re-connected with an old friend Janna Lauer, who founded Heart and Soul.
Meredith also learned of other programs, including Bread and Roses in San Francisco. She wrote more than 50 letters to facilities in Palm Beach County asking if they’d be interested in hosting live one-hour music performances. More than 30 responded right away with a resounding yes.
Meredith, a skilled violinist and pianist who performed over the years with various bands, had no trouble finding professional musicians to perform Inspirit concerts.
They play a variety of styles, from pop to jazz to blues, and many regularly record and perform around the country. Inspirit compensates the musicians for their performance, although some choose to donate their time.
They have included Nicole Yarling, a Miami-based jazz violinist who played at a West Palm Beach detention center; Rod MacDonald, an internationally recognized folk singer/songwriter; NY Blues Hall of Fame inductee Robert Ross; and then-Palm Beach Post columnist Frank Cerabino, who played accordion at a memory care unit.
By 2017, Inspirit was working with 30 musicians, matching them to specific audiences.
“It’s mostly a labor of love,’’ Meredith told The Palm Beach Post that year. “We’re like the little engine who could.’’
Over the years, Inspirit survived on grants and donations, operating on a budget from $40,000 to $70,000 a year that allowed them to pay part-time staffers a modest salary.
But since the pandemic, donations and performances have dropped. Meredith retired from the group in 2022, and for the past few years Anglin and the non-profit’s volunteer board have taken on her duties.
“We are able to continue operating because we have very low overhead. We don’t have significant office expenses or salaries. Our main expense is paying performers,’’ Anglin said.
A goal for 2026 is to hire a director or office administrator, which would allow Inspirit to qualify for grants. Many grants require nonprofits to have a paid staff member.
“We could really use a grant to be able to pay someone a salary but we can’t get a grant unless we have someone on salary. We’re in a Catch-22,’’ he said.
Inspirit’s board is hoping for a sold-out event on March 29.
Anyone coming can look forward to performances by MacDonald, Jason Colannino, Robert Ross, Pink Slip Duo, Millie Tennessee, Ian Wilkinson, Andy Stein and KNR Entertainment. Special guests will be The Cravens.
Meredith’s son Conor recently shared an anecdote that illustrated the passion she brought to Inspirit.
“We were on the subway platform in New York waiting on a train and there was a musician playing a song and singing,’’ he wrote in her obituary.
“Out of hundreds of people, she was the only one watching him and supporting him. She stood about 10 feet from him and was dancing to his song. When he finished playing she donated money to him, and told me, ‘We gotta support musicians!’”
