By Connor Sanders
News Correspondent
Dorchester looks a bit nicer due to some unlikely helpers – a platinum-selling indie rock band and its supporters.
Volunteers and fans of the band Foster the People gathered Sept. 29 outside the House of Blues to be picked up by the Do Good Bus – the name of both the vehicle and the organization that runs it – to assist with a then-unannounced community service project. The group, which was co-founded by Stephen Snedden and Rebecca Pontius, follows the band from city to city picking up volunteers to help out a local organization that gives back to the community. The bus’s tour began Sept. 13 and will continue until Oct. 20.
The band has had a big year with the success of their latest album, “Torches,” and their single, “Pumped Up Kicks,” which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Originally, the band was called Foster and the People, after Mark Foster and his band mates Cubbie Fink and Mark Pontius. However, the name was quickly changed to Foster the People because it related to the band’s interest in giving back to the community.
The bus arrived at Pope John Paul II park in Dorchester, Mass., and the volunteers were greeted by Candice Cook and Jeremy Dick, employees of Boston Natural Areas Network. Here, the Do Good Bus and volunteers planted trees in a park that was a landfill only a decade ago.
Carli Cichocki, a staff member with the Do Good Bus, said most people don’t volunteer because people often either don’t know how to do it or think it is some form of punishment.
One of the ways the Bus gets volunteers involved is by keeping the exact nature of the community service they will take part in a mystery. Snedden said he hears from volunteers who say they would never have taken part in service if the organization had told them what they would be doing ahead of time.
“If you tell people in advance, then they never get outside of their own box,” he said. “Maybe they’ve always worked with children, and you take them out and work with the environment and they realize ‘oh, this is something I enjoy, too.’”
This aspect of the organization keeps things different, and in some cases, first-time volunteers come back to do more. Snedden said that one project involving helping at-risk teenagers write college essays has seen the initial volunteers return to continue the work.
The Do Good Bus has hit major cities and has shared many successes. In Texas, for example, the bus went to Austin and Dallas and raised about $25,000 to help with the wildfires that plagued the state this summer, Cichocki said.
The organization also strives to inspire people who already volunteer to start their own projects, to create awareness for local causes and to build community.
Another draw for the volunteers is to share a common interest with their favorite band. Susan Malone, one of the first volunteers to show up, said she found out about the Do Good Bus on the band’s Facebook fan page.
To get on the bus, potential volunteers either had to apply or make a donation.
Valerie and Daniel Murray, who have been fans since last October, thought it was a good way for Foster the People to promote their cause. Maureen O’Malley, another volunteer, said she admires the Do Good Bus because it not only is bringing awareness not only to a city, but also, by partnering with Foster the People, to the entire country.
“What we try to show is that volunteering can be fun and it’s social,” Cichocki said.
