If students are looking for loud music, lots of people and a good cause this Friday night, Howard’s Club H is hosting a benefit concert.

The event is being hosted to benefit the family of Ryan Szyperski, a member of the Air Force, who is linked to the University through his participation in BG Undead.

Zack Mickens, president of the club, has been friends with Szyperski since they were in junior high.

“Ryan did special forces training as a pararescueman, one of the most dangerous jobs our military offers. Soon after he completed his training, he was sent overseas … Ryan was gone for a few months. He was wounded in action and was returned to the United States for physical rehabilitation,” Mickens said. “After a few months of recovery, he’s back in Ohio for a few weeks. After he returned from overseas, he found out that his mother was diagnosed with cancer. This benefit is to help Ryan and his family cover the expenses of his mother’s treatment.”

Though she has never met him, Amanda Karr, treasurer of BG Undead, heard Szyperski’s story and wanted to help.

After considering various alternatives, she decided to organize a benefit concert.

“I chose to tackle this as a concert event because I have had enough experiences with people to know that music is something that speaks to almost everyone in one way or another,” Karr said in an email. “The messages heard in music may be different from person to person but the music itself is still eliciting an emotional response from the listener and they are connecting with it in some way. I cannot think of a better way to make an event appeal to a larger amount of people and to bring people in this community and in others closer together in support of a great cause for one man’s family.”

Some employees at Howard’s Club H are happy to host the event.

“[Howard’s is] a live open venue. We do fundraisers all the time,” said Jennifer Snyder, an employee at Howard’s. “It’s just part of your community service, but it’s live music so we like to do that.”

The lineup for the concert is quite diverse, with genres from slam poetry to rap to acoustic, Karr said.

The list of performers includes Tyler Brewer, William Bradford, Natasha Ivery, A.J Graber, Tom Vasey, Trey Blackwell, Planet Lovetron with El Extreme, Midwest Train Wreck, Cape Canyon, The Strong Talk and Hobo Stew.

With such a diverse group of artists, Karr anticipates the concert will draw a large crowd.

All of the proceeds from the concert will go to Szyperski’s family.

“I only plan to make enough money at this benefit to make an impact on the Szyperski family and to show them that we, as a community, do care for and support them,” Karr said.

The concert will begin at 7 p.m. and go until 2:15 a.m. The cost of admission is $5, with all proceeds going to Ryan Szyperski’s family.