Lafayette College students joined forces with Eastonians for an evening of music to raise money for those affected by the recent downtown fire.

“Within the first five minutes, the donations came flooding in, and the place got absolutely packed out,” said Lafayette Interdisciplinary Music Society’s outgoing president Ajani Martin ‘26.

In collaboration with the Lafayette Easton Alliance, the music society hosted Arts Connecting Community Together, abbreviated ACCT, at the Connexions Gallery in Easton last Friday, featuring several student bands and a capella groups to fundraise for victims of the Hampton Hotel fire.

“We said it’d be nice if we had an actual charity event, bringing the community from Easton, the community of Lafayette together,” Martin said.

“A cappella is always great to have because a cappella always shows up for each other,” said Allison Stein ‘27, the president of Lafayette Easton Alliance.

Attendees paid $5, and all proceeds were donated to United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, a local nonprofit supporting those affected by the fire. The event yielded $813.

Easton restaurants also pitched in, including Colonial Pizza & Spaghetti House, which donated pasta and salad for attendees.

Originally set to perform inside the gallery, all four of Lafayette’s a cappella groups moved outside for room, courtesy of some cooperation from the weather.

“It was nice to see everyone supporting each other,” said Cora Davia ‘29, part of the Mar-Keys a capella group. Davia is also a lead singer for the student band Hoagie, who performed at the event for its first-ever gig.

“We went specifically just to see them,” said Alexandra Raffetto ‘29 about Hoagie. “But all the rest of the acts were amazing.”

“It’s to the point where people get their friends and tell their friends, ‘Oh, I’m performing,’” said David Antwi ‘26, the treasurer of the Lafayette Interdisciplinary Music Society.

The connection between the college and Easton has been limited in the past.

“My initial fear was, because it’s down in Easton, students would not want to do that,” said Juju Baenziger ‘28, the new president of the music society. “It was great to see that students are willing to come down from this bubble and seek everything that’s out there, because there’s so much down in Easton that we’re just not taking advantage of.”

“We don’t always have direct connections or direct conversation,” Baenziger added. “It was nice for us to join forces for this event.”