Malik’s Music to hold second fundraising concert to benefit kids

After raising more than $1,400 at a fundraising concert on June 4, Malik’s Music – a nonprofit organization that grants scholarships of instruments and lessons to low-income youths and teens who can’t afford them – will hold another fundraising concert on Friday, June 18.

Malik’s Music partnered with the St. Charles Business Alliance this summer to put on a pair of concert fundraisers featuring young musicians. The upcoming concert will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. on the patio at the Spotted Fox Ale House, 3615 E. Main St. in St. Charles, and will feature the band Keep The Eleven and a local jazz band.

St. Charles brothers Zac, Max and Cam Chiet want to make sure that all young people have the chance to pursue their musical endeavors. In 2018, they created Malik’s Music, a nonprofit organization that grants scholarships of instruments and lessons to those who can’t afford them.

The mission of the group is to spread the joy of music by providing resources for music lessons and instruments to low-income youths and teens in Kane, DuPage, Kendall, DeKalb and McHenry counties. The three brothers formed Malik’s Music after one of their good friends, Malik, drowned in 2018. He was 14.

“Music was really central to all of our lives,” said Zac Chiet, 17, who will be a senior this fall at St. Charles East High School. “He was very into music. And when he passed, both me and my brothers found ourselves turning more to music. We wanted to honor his memory and help other people.”

Max, 15, will be a junior this fall at St. Charles East and Cam, 13, will be an eighth-grader at Thompson Middle School. Zac Chiet is a musician himself, and plays piano and the guitar. His brothers also play piano.

Since forming, Malik’s Music has been able to provide instruments, lessons, and educational materials to more than 100 youth musicians.

“So many people have donated instruments,” Zac Chiet said. “We can get them into the hands of a kid who otherwise wouldn’t be able to have one.”

This past winter, the group partnered with Operation Christmas Child to donate two guitars and accessories, and plans to donate more than 15 instruments this summer to children. The group will be working with CASA Kane County and Mutual Ground to identify children who could benefit from Malik’s Music.

More information about Malik’s Music, including how to donate instruments, is available at maliksmusic.com.