Sandor and Laszlo Slomovits, as the duo Gemini, have sung and played music as well as their own songs and traditional folk music from around the world.

A concert by Gemini, a nationally acclaimed musical group, will be offered Wednesday, November 16, at the Pickford Presbyterian Church. The concert will begin at 7 p.m. and a silent auction will be held before the concert, starting at 6:30 p.m. Both will benefit the new Pickford Community Wellspring Foundation.

Formed last fall, the Wellspring Foundation was launched to support and improve the quality of life for area citizens through enhancement, cultural and educational events, scholarships, and youth activities. A group of local volunteers serve as the board of the organization, and is working toward raising more than $5,000 in the "Over $5,000 in '05" campaign.

"This concert is our first money-raising venture," said Kristin Taylor, vice president of the Wellspring Foundation. "We hope this will be the first of many thing we want to do to raise funds for the Foundation."

The Wellspring is a fund of the Chippewa County Community Foundation, an affiliate of Community Foundation of the Upper Peninsula. There are 10 affiliates of the Community Foundation of the Upper Peninsula, including the St. Ignace, Les Cheneaux, and Mackinac Island foundations. Pickford people have been involved with the larger Chippewa County Foundation for several years, and some of its teens have been involved in the County's Youth Advisory Committee or "YAC," a fund within the foundation especially set up for youth activities and needs. Nearly a decade ago, the Kellogg Foundation of Michigan established YACs in several communities around the state to empower young people, teach them to be philanthropists, and give them the opportunity to give money toward projects they determine will benefit young people. YAC funds can only be spent on projects that provide meaningful activities for children and teens.

Members of the Pickford community decided last year to establish the Pickford Community Wellspring Foundation to meet the growing and specific needs of the Pickford Community.

The Foundation was established with a $400 donation from Old Mission Bank of Sault Ste. Marie and Pickford. It has been supplemented with donations from individuals and other businesses, like Iris and Rod Jarvie's Main Street Cafe, which held a fundraiser in the spring to add money to the Foundation's scholarship fund.

The Foundation is an endowed fund, which means grants are made from the interest generated by a principle amount. The fund can receive money from individual people, businesses, and grants from other foundations, and that money is put into a permanent investment account that serves as a community savings account. The principle remains invested year after year, so that it can be used to make grants for future community projects. The endowed fund prevents all the money from being spent immediately.

The November 16 concert and silent auction will help generate funds to add to the growing endowment.

The twin brothers of “Gemini” were born in Budapest, Hungary in 1949. They emigrated with their parents and lived in Israel for three years before moving to the United States. Since 1973 they have made their home in Ann Arbor, and they have recorded six albums for children and audiences of all ages. Their most recent recording is "A Feast of Song," which includes several of their newest original songs, plus songs from around the world. They have received songwriting and recording awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers every year since 1995.

Together the twin brothers play more than a dozen instruments, including guitar, fiddle, mandolin, pennywhistle, harmonica, slide whistle, South American panpipes, Native American flute, the Appalachian limberjack, spoons, tambourine, African shakers, and bones.

They have performed more than 30 years together in a variety of musical styles, including folk, blues, 1950s "Doo-Wap," Klezmer, and swing. They are occasionally joined by their wives on stage during performances.

Living in several countries as they were growing up, the twins have seen and appreciate many different ways of life, as they have been exposed to the music and instruments of different cultures. They grew up hearing a rich variety of music at home. Their father, a fine singer and a Cantor in the synagogue, taught them everything from religious music and Italian opera, to Hungarian and Yiddish folk songs.

In the folk tradition, Gemini's songs celebrate the everyday experiences of childhood and family life, including pets, food, school, sports, and the experiences of growing up. Children will enjoy the variety of sometimes-exotic instruments, and the group explains unfamiliar songs while providing time for questions and answers at the end of the show. The group was selected by the Foundation for its particular focus in engaging families in their concerts, and children get to be fully involved in music making during the show.

A concert especially for students in grades kindergarten through eight will be offered at Pickford Public Schools in the gymnasium November 16 at 1:30 p.m.

In addition to Gemini's performances at concert halls, festivals, community centers and elementary schools throughout the United States and Canada, and they have performed with symphony orchestras, including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Kansas City Symphony.

Donations to the Pickford Community Wellspring Foundation will be accepted at the November 16 concert, or can be mailed to Pickford Community Wellspring, P.O. Box 251, Pickford Michigan 49774. Donation’s are tax deductible. The Foundation welcomes suggestions for creating specific funds within the Foundation.

Dave Firack is president of the Foundation. DiAnn Firack is treasurer. Sarah Morrison serves as secretary. Directors include Jan Johnson, Joan Wahl, Keith Krahnke, Tom Ball, and Iris Jarvie.