Violinist hosting concert to raise money for Kalispell shelter

Kalispell’s Wai Mizutani is putting on a free concert, Monday, May 22 to raise money for Peggy’s House, a shelter for women and children on the city’s west side.

The show is at Easthaven Baptist Church in Kalispell at 7 p.m. and will include a guest appearance by the Valley Voices Community Choir. Mizutani, a product of the prestigious Juilliard School of Music, will be playing a blend of his favorite classical, Baroque and rock songs.

Peggy’s House is named after Peggy Christensen, the founder of A Ray of Hope, the Christian nonprofit behind the project that also operates a men’s shelter and thrift store in the same area. Organizers of the fundraiser are hoping to procure the $100,000 needed to complete the project, and they’re doing so with a sense of urgency since Christensen was diagnosed with multiple cancers earlier this year. Their goal is to complete the house during Christensen’s lifetime.

In a Daily Inter Lake article earlier this month, Wayne Appl, a resident of A Ray of Hope’s men’s shelter and coordinator of fundraising and outreach, said “We are working overdrive to make this wish come true. It is her greatest aspiration to get the shelter done.”

The church fundraiser is free to attend, although donations will be accepted. Dessert and coffee will be served after the concert. Easthaven Baptist Church is located at 2010 Whitefish Stage Road in Kalispell.

A Ray of Hope is also accepting donations through a GoFundMe page, www.gofundme.com/arayofhopemontana-com.