Area musician drums up support for charity

LARRY GRIFFIN COULD use a little help. It only seems fair.

Griffin is the founder and head of We Care and Friends, a street-level group that tries to lend a hand to the least among us - drug abusers, the homeless, the relentlessly recidivist.

"We Care will fold if we can't get some funding soon," Griffin said. "It would be a shame for us to fold."

Griffin has long been prominent in Annapolis. He's the big guy on the drums in Mama Jama, a popular local band. He and We Care have staged 10 monster Thanksgiving dinners for the disabled and elderly.

He brings a knowing perspective to his work: He was a drug addict for most of two decades. Life got so bad that he lived in a cargo container for several months.

"I got tired of being tired," Griffin said of those days. "Tired of not having my life."

It's a life he can't stand to see in others, especially among the young. His work for the disadvantaged attracts the attention of various city officials, who regularly seek his counsel.

"Larry is a man with many of the bruises of life, but with a heart that is bigger than most," said Annapolis Mayor Dean L. Johnson. "We Care and Friends is his alter ego that finds help and assistance for the needs of the community that he has seen or heard of.

"He steps into any problem regardless of its size and seeks a solution. He is a friend to the entire community - whatever your stripe, your salary or your address. And on top of that, he is a great musician."

"Larry's heart is bigger than he is," said another city official. "I think he may be too proud to go out and beg for money."

Griffin is a specialist at accomplishing things on the cheap. He has as many as 40 restaurants contributing to his Thanksgiving meal. He has contacts up and down the East Coast who can get his charges into inexpensive drug treatment programs.

"We're not asking for a lot of money," he said.

Griffin's ultimate goal is to establish a We Care "safe" house, a refuge where lives somehow might be turned around - a trade learned, a change in lifestyle made.

"These people get out of jail or some sort of program and they go right back to where they got in trouble in the first place. That's got to change somehow," he said. "There are people in this town who need help but can't help themselves."

Despite statistics that show crime rates dropping nationally and locally, Griffin says the problem on the streets remains unchanged. "Drug use is worse than it's ever been," he said.

We Care and the Greater Clay Street Improvement Association will stage a Mardi Gras party at the Stanton Center, 92 W. Washington St., from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday. The party will be preceded by a parade, starting at 4 p.m., that will step off at Adams Park School, proceed down Clay Street and turn on to Washington to the Stanton Center.

Mama Jama, Imagedry and James Mabry will provide music at the party. Costumes are encouraged.

Tickets for the party are $15 in advance, available at the Stanton Center, and $20 at the door. Children ages 5 to 15 will be admitted for $5. For more information, call Griffin at 410-269-1595 or Bertina Nick, 410-208-6201.

Proceeds will benefit the two sponsoring organizations.

Griffin's friends know that it takes a lot to get him riled. He sounded a little steamed when he said, "I feel ashamed when I have to turn away someone I can't help."

`Food for thought'

The Historic Annapolis Foundation has launched a bring-your-own-lunch lecture series at William Paca House at 186 Prince George St. The biweekly lunches run from noon to 1 p.m.

"Brown Bag Lunch," as the free series is called, will feature Glenn Campbell, former foundation education coordinator, speaking on the architecture of the Naval Academy on Feb. 28.

"The series was created to enrich people's lives," said HAF President Brian Alexander. "If they provide the food, we'll provide the food for thought."

Information: 410-267-7619.