By Maya a. Weisinger

In the spring of 2010 Medicinal Melodies was started as an Action Fund Project by Beth Moretzsky ’13 and Bethany Battafarano ‘13. It has evolved into an officially chartered org on campus. Their main mission as a group is to perform for those in need of healing around the Twin Cities. “It’s really cheesy, but we pretty much just aim to make people smile, especially people who could use a little more smiling in their lives,” Moretzsky says. The Melodies is comprised of a diverse group of students, all devoted to giving back to the community. Last year the group received the award for Organizational Growth at the Community Recognition Awards. Musical outings this semester have included performances at the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge and plans to perform at the Lyngblomsten Nursing Home in November. This semester’s goals have also been to inform the Mac community of their presence on campus through more local performances. Recently performing at Family Fest has set the group up with the motivation to take their good tidings to other performance venues. Upcoming this weekend is a benefit concert for the HIV/AIDS housing community, Clare Housing, co-sponsored with Mac FaceAIDS. This enthusiasm to reach out not only benefits the community, but benefits the members of the group as well. “We may not always have our lyrics memorized or do anything too flashy, but we truly enjoy what we do, which is ultimately the most important thing to the group and especially to those for whom we typically perform. If we’re enjoying ourselves, there’s no reason for an audience not to have a good time and ultimately leave our performance in a better mood,” Moretzsky says.