His latest fundraiser is Saturday in honour of Nelson Mandela and Lincoln Alexander as part of Black History Month
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For all the years I’ve known him — and we first met in 2007 — world-class Toronto saxophonist Dave McLaughlin has tirelessly devoted himself to acts of charity.
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What motivates him is his belief — learned at his parish church while growing up in his birthplace of Montego Bay, Jamaica — that good deeds are not something one does from time to time to make oneself feel good.
Rather, McLaughlin says, they are a commandment from God, expressly stated in Psalm 41:1 that for those who have the ability to give, “Blessed is the one who considers the poor.”
McLaughlin never forgot that lesson as he turned his passion for playing the saxophone — encouraged at a key moment in his young life by a visiting music professor from Indiana State University, who told him he was “a natural” — into a brilliant career.
He has performed around the world opening up for the likes of the late, legendary Ray Charles.
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When McLaughlin emigrated to Canada in 1991 and became a Canadian citizen, he turned the biblical teachings he had learned in Jamaica into action.
The first time I saw McLaughlin play with his band — and he’s an amazing musician — he was performing at the launch of one of his CDs, where the proceeds went to the Toronto Foundation for Student Success, the charitable foundation of the Toronto District School Board.
When I asked him why he had chosen that charity, he responded by referencing the encouragement he had received in his young life from that visiting university professor in Jamaica all those years ago.
McLaughlin told me he does what he does “because every child can grow up to become anything — a doctor, a lawyer or a criminal. We have to help them make the right choices.”
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He began by donating a portion of his earnings from his CD sales to charity, then expanded it into an ongoing series of gospel concerts raising funds for everything from scholarships for deserving Canadian college and university students to financial aid to Jamaica and other countries in the Caribbean when they are hit by natural disasters.
Year in and year out McLaughlin organizes these concerts — typically two or three times a year — with singers, musicians and preachers he knows, providing great entertainment and conveying the message that “blessed are those who consider the poor.”
His latest will be held on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. at the Rosewood Church of the Nazarene, 657 Milner Ave. in Scarborough, in honour of Nelson Mandela and Lincoln Alexander as part of Black History Month.
Tickets cost $25, can be purchased at the door and the evening’s door prize will be a two-night, all-inclusive stay at the SeaGarden Beach Resort in Montego Bay.
I’m the master of ceremonies.
McLaughlin is also planning another fundraising concert in late June in honour of Bob Marley’s widow, Rita Marley, a family friend he has known for years, and is looking for sponsors for that event. He can be reached at 416-709-9863.
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