The Matt Prater Band and First Presbyterian Church are joining forces Sunday, Sept. 24, to support the Limestone County Full Tummy Project. The church will host a benefit concert featuring the country bluegrass group at their Revival building, located at 303 Washington St. from 4-6 p.m.

The Full Tummy Project provides snacks for Athens City school children who may not have enough food to eat over the weekends, when school-provided meals are not available. This year, 173 students from six Athens City schools were selected to receive weekly snack packs.

First Presbyterian has made the commitment to sponsor an Athens City school for the year. According to Regina Kyle, director of the Full Tummy Project, one school in the system still needs a sponsor.

The recipients of the snack packs are chosen by school counselors and appear in the child’s backpack on Fridays while they’re in P.E. or when they return to homeroom from another class.

The non-perishable snack stashes contain kid-friendly goodies like breakfast bars, instant oatmeal, Pop-Tarts and canned meals. Each snack pack costs $5-$8.

The Rev. Linda Post of First Presbyterian said their mission team came up with the idea for a community concert after brainstorming ways to make good use of their newly remodeled Revival building and raise money for their newly adopted ministry.

“It’s our vision to use the Revival building for as much community outreach as possible,” Post said. “Helping to ensure the children of this county have all they need to learn and grow and thrive by having enough food to eat is a cause we want to support.”

When Post asked Matt Prater if his band would be willing to do a free concert, he was all for it. The band’s base player, Jacob Greene, is a member of the church, and they’ve led worship service on several occasions.

“Rev. Linda really likes our music,” Prater said. “She wanted to treat the community to a concert that would show them they have a new resource at the Revival building and at the same time help kids.”

Post hopes that hundreds will turn out to hear the group perform their signature classical country sounds peppered with gospel.

The event is free and attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and cash donations. They can also purchase raffle tickets for $5 each. The grand prize is two tickets to the Grand Ole Opry.

Post says that all of the proceeds will go toward the Full Tummy Project.