Battle of the Bands to Raise Money for Connor Cares Foundation

A Crofton family’s efforts to reduce drowning deaths at public and private pools will be supported by a battle of the bands fundraiser Thursday in Annapolis.

Empty Houses, Reality Check and Efflorescence will perform from 7:30 to 10 p.m. at the Metropolitan Kitchen & Lounge, 169 West St. Tickets are $7 and proceeds will benefit the Connor Cares Foundation.

The foundation was founded in 2007 in memory of Connor Freed, a 5-year-old Crofton boy who drowned at the Crofton Country Club pool.

Bridget Bell, a spokesman for the foundation, told CapitalGazette.com that the concert was the idea of Reed Webber, one of the members of Empty Houses and a cousin of Connor Freed. 

Although the Crofton pool had an automatic external defibrillator on hand when Connor was pulled from the water, the newspaper website says the lifeguard on duty wasn’t trained to use it. His family sued the club and its managing company and was awarded $4 million, later reduced to $1 million.

The Connor Cares Foundation donates automated defibrillators and supports drowning prevention programs in Anne Arundel, Prince George’s and Montgomery counties. In 2013, the state required all publicly owned pools to have AEDs and train lifeguards to use them.