Matthew Burnette, Staff Writer

Amongst the various stages and food and craft vendors at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, Planet Roo shines a light on local and national nonprofits whose missions carry the very essence of the festival.

David’s Den is a nonprofit out of Nashville started by Alex Chont that offers help to musicians that struggle with suicidal thoughts, depression and anxiety.

“We have a building facility in Nashville that has a woodshop where they can do some woodworking and a metal shop and a little computer room,” explained Chont. “It’s a safe place where people can go and hang out. We also have a music studio where if they want to come and play music, they can do that too.”

The main service David’s Den offers is a number of different resources to struggling musicians and creatives

“If a musician needs help and maybe they’re struggling with some counseling, we can offer them counseling or maybe they haven’t seen a doctor in a while, we can help get them insurance and get them to the dentist or to get glasses if they need glasses,” he said. “They can kind of come hang out and we grow it from there.”

David’s Den is named after Chont’s brother David who committed suicide in 1996 and started to honor his legacy.

Chont says the organization helps a lot of people, a double-edged sword of sorts.

“It’s sad because we have a lot of people that reach out,” he said. “I wish that there weren’t so many, but I’m glad that we’re there to do it. We also have a lot of volunteers that reach out.”

In his third year setting up with the organization at Bonnaroo, Chont says the festival fits right into their mission.

“Creatives, music, this is what we do,” he explained. “There’s two things that can happen here: somebody may be struggling, and they can find out about us or maybe somebody knows somebody that’s struggling, and they can guide us in their direction or to other resources to get them some help.”

Also set up at Planet Roo is Shower the People, a nonprofit in Nashville that offers people experiencing homelessness a shower by way of an old school bus that the organization reworked.

The bus is a 1990 International 3800 school bus with two full private bathrooms on board and the ability to connect to the hydrant system. The bus can also catch and carry 200 gallons of water for when a hydrant system is not available.

Meredith McCloud-Jaulin, Executive Director of Shower the People, explained that they first got the idea from social media.

“We saw a Facebook video about a company out in San Francisco doing it,” she said. “We were like “That’s awesome! We want to do that to!”

At their spot at Bonnaroo, Shower the People also offers attendees the opportunity to dye donated towels from the Hilton in Nashville that the organization can use.

In their fourth year at Bonnaroo, McCloud-Jaulin says she just enjoys the positivity that surrounds the festival.

“It’s just awesome to be around people that are like “Ah, we love you!’ all the time,” she explained. “You can’t have enough of it.”

Additionally in their fourth year at the festival, Turnip Green Creative Reuse is spreading awareness about their mission of sustainability.

Founded by Kelly Tipler, the organization focuses on diverting usable materials from landfills and connecting them with teachers, students, and artists.

The organization’s Executive Director Erin Boddy explained that it was essentially started in Tipler’s garage.

“Our founder started collecting some excess that she had in her garage and was like ‘I don’t need these notebooks but someone else might,’ so she started collecting and telling her friends,” said Boddy. “It got bigger and bigger really quickly and just produced a lot of waste and so it grew from there.”

Turnip Green Creative Reuse has a reuse center in Nashville where people can donate unused materials as well as what Boddy describes as “basically a shopping center” where the items can be purchased by those who need them.

“It’s all “pay what you can” so people can come and shop it, and we do workshops just trying to teach people to be creative with what they have and get materials out to those who need them,” she explained.

Boddy noted that she feels like the organization is a a good match with Bonnaroo because they really care about the arts and creativity and then also sustainability. She also says that people are really excited when they hear about the organization.

“If you’re a local, even in Tennessee in general, it’s nice because you can come and visit,” she said. “There’s also a lot of creative reuses in other cities, so it also inspires people to look in their city and see that it’s something that can happen there too.”

There are also resources available at Planet Roo focused on helping four-legged friends.

Pawster is a nonprofit in Middle Tennessee that does crisis fostering, explained Nancy Horton-Holmes whose husband Gabe founded the organization.

“So if a human is in crisis, either they’re in a hospital or experiencing homelessness, we will foster their pet for up to three months, so they don’t have to surrender them to a doctor,” she said.

The organization started in 2020 and has set up at Bonnaroo the last four years.

“My husband was furloughed from his job, and he was kind of calling to animal welfare nonprofits and they said this was a big need in Tennessee because often the option is to just surrender a pet for a temporary crisis,” recalled Horton-Holmes. “So, he got it up and off the ground, and that’s kind of where we’re at.”

Horton-Holmes explained that they enjoy setting up at Planet Roo because they get to reach and encourage a large number of people.

“We’re able to share our mission with a lot of people and encourage people to look for the same types of organizations in their communities,” she said.