Summer Schappell, youth to put on concert benefitting foster children

Redding resident and Nashville recording artist Summer Schappell is joining forces with Red Bluff resident Chad Bushnell and members of Kids Unlimited in Redding to performing a benefit concert for the Tehama County Foster Parent's Association Mentoring Project on May 29 at the Pauline Davis Pavilion in Red Bluff.

The mentoring project consists of community members linking up with teens who are in foster care and teaching them a skill. The teens are then paired up with younger foster children between the ages 8 to 11 years old under adult supervison, teaching them not just a skill, but building confidence, responsibility, trust and that they have a purpose in life.

Summer Schappell of Redding is an up and coming country and pop recording vocalist with many years of experience performing with Kids Unlimited and Enterprise Starship. She has recently started opening concerts for some of the big names in the country music business. Schappell recently released her first album in February.

"Being able to put on a show for the Foster Parents Association and Mentoring Program is such a great cause. It is a huge honor to be asked to be the one to head line the show for local foster children," stated Schappell. "I also like being able to work perform with someone that is familiar with the area and the people that live here."

Chad Bushnell, 18, of Red Bluff is a 2008 graduate of Red Bluff High School and currently enrolled at Shasta College in Redding. He began singing country music and playing the guitar at age 3. He is now getting ready to release his first album. The largest crowd Bushnell has entertained was 5,000 strong at a FFA Conference in Fresno. He also sang the National Anthem at quite a few rodeos and performed at many other community functions.

Along with Schappell and Bushnell, the members of Kids Unlimited will share a sample of their talents and present some of the performance pieces they have been working on through the years.

Kids Unlimited was formed in 1988 and is a non profit organization.

A large portion of the funds raised at the concert will help keep the mentoring project alive teaching horsemanship skills, cooking, wild life rescue and bicycle repair. It will also aid in taking the graduates of the mentoring program on a trip to Disneyland at the end of the summer. Tickets to the concert are $10 for adults and $8 for students. Tickets are available at Becca's Cafe in Anderson, the Boot Barn in Anderson and at Seirra Sound in Red Bluff. The concert begins at 7 p.m. on the Tehama County Fair grounds in Red Bluff.