A ‘dream come true’: Mt. Joy teams up with Philly nonprofit for food drive at the Mann Center

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A homecoming show Friday for Philadelphia-based indie rockers Mt. Joy will also serve as a food drive benefiting local families.

The band’s appearance at The Mann Center is in support of their latest live album, “Live at the Salt Shed,” released in June, and on the heels of performances to packed houses across the country.

“We have a lot of people that are now coming to these shows,” said singer and guitarist Matt Quinn. “Let’s just make our shows as fun as possible, and make sure these people are seeing one of the best bands out. [We want] to make sure they’re leaving and feeling like that was one of the best shows they saw all year.”

Friday’s show will also be a homecoming for lead guitarist Sam Cooper who, along with Quinn, grew up going to shows at the Mann.

“For us to be able to play that stage, it is literally like a sixth, seventh grade dream come true,” Cooper said. “We play enough shows that they all do kind of blend together, but there are moments — like I’m sure on Friday — I’ll be on stage and say, ‘Whoa, this is different. This is amazing.’”

The food drive will be in partnership with Sharing Excess, a nonprofit that launched on Drexel University’s campus in 2018 to combat food insecurity. During Mt. Joy’s two-night run at The Mann Center last year, fans donated roughly 3,000 pounds of food to Sharing Excess, creating 2,500 meals to combat food insecurity in Philadelphia.

“It’s been awesome,” said Victoria Wilson, Sharing Excess’ nonprofit operations director. “There have been so many people that have reached out to get involved and we have this really easy way of letting them do that. Everybody who brings a donation will be entered in to win a chance to watch the show side stage, which is a really awesome incentive for folks.”

“To see a show from side stage is very unique,” Cooper said. “Not many people get to see that, but for people, they love it, it’s a good experience for sure.”

Those who want to donate food are encouraged to bring non-perishable items like canned vegetables or soups, or dry goods like cereal or granola bars.

So far this tour, the partnership with Mt. Joy has collected enough food to generate 10,000 meals for Sharing Excess. Founder and CEO Evan Ehlers said it’s been great to watch “the band grow from the same place we’ve grown too.”

“We also personally love listening to Mt. Joy on a regular basis,” Ehlers said. “You’ll see at our distributions and our pop-ups we’re playing a lot of music and, a lot of the time, it is Mt. Joy. It’s just a perfect fit.”

Mt. Joy will headline Madison Square Garden on Sept. 28. It’s possible some of the show’s segments are being recorded for future live releases, but the band says it’s cooking something else up in the meantime.

“We’re probably halfway through a new album,” Quinn said. “And when we get off this run at the beginning of October, we’ll go in and finish our fourth album.”

Tickets for Friday’s show at the TD Pavilion at The Mann Center are on sale through Ticketmaster. The show starts at 8 p.m.