Andra Day Surprises Mother’s Day Luncheon Guests

By edhat staff

Grammy-nominated artist Andra Day surprised guests at a Mother’s Day Luncheon this past weekend to sing “Rise Up” with Debris Flow survivor Lauren Cantin.

The 18th Annual Mother’s Day hosted by Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care (VNHC) welcomed nearly 400 guests to the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort on Friday. The event honored Sharol Siemens and remembered the mothers who passed away in the 2018 Montecito Debris Flow: Faviola Benitez Calderon, Josie Gower, Alice Mitchell, Marilyn Ramos Benitez, and Rebecca Riskin.

Lauren Cantin took the stage to sing “Rise Up” by Andra Day. To everyone’s surprise, Day joined her on stage to sing her inspirational song.

“I am honored that Lauren chose to sing ‘Rise Up.’ I wanted to meet her and sing with her because her story stirred in my spirit so deeply that I knew I had to go be with her. I wanted her to know that no matter what you go through in life there are people who care. Whether you have met them yet or not. I was in turn blessed by our interaction and her awareness of the healing design of music,” said Day.

Andrew Firestone emceed the luncheon and introduced other musical performances including the Fratelli Men’s Chorus, The New Chordettes, Spencer Vincent and Santa Barbara Dance Arts, and Frankie Fairweather Harman with the All-In Youth Choir.

The event raised more than $380,000 adding to directly fund Music Therapy Visits, Serenity House patients, Loan Closet operations, bereavement patients, and VNHC caregivers. Every year, the VNHC Foundation raises more than $2 million to support direct patient charity care and charitable community benefit programs.

The full video of Cantin and Day singing is provided below: