Harlem Line Band concert to benefit Jane Lloyd Fund

Donna Lloyd Stoetzner and Ram Miles have been friends since kindergarten. With decades of shared memories stretching from grade school through high school, the two have spent a lifetime in each other’s orbit. Today, they both work at Indian Mountain School, just a short distance from where they grew up.

On Saturday, March 28, Miles and his band, The Harlem Line Band, will perform their seventh semi-annual concert at the White Hart Inn in support of the Jane Lloyd Fund, a grassroots organization that helps local families facing cancer-related financial hardship. The night promises live music, dancing and friends gathering for a cause deeply personal to Stoetzner.

Miles and Stoetzner grew up attending the same local schools. Their families knew one another, and music was always in the background.

“We’ve known each other since kindergarten,” Miles said. “I knew the whole Lloyd clan.”

In high school in the late 1970s, Miles was already playing rock and roll in local bands, performing at house parties across the tri-state region. “We’d show up and there’d be 100 kids at a house party,” he recalled. “Once the homeowner came out with a shotgun and everybody ran for the cars. The drums were rolling down the hill.”

Stoetzner remembers those days well, especially the dancing. Her sister, Jane Lloyd, whose memory now inspires the fund, was a regular at Miles’ shows. “Jane was always up for something — moonlight walks up the mountain, skating on a pond, music festivals. She loved it all,” Stoetzner said.

When Jane was diagnosed with breast cancer at 34, the community rallied around her. One of the first fundraisers was held at the White Hart Inn, with Miles’ band performing for a packed crowd. More than 300 people attended, raising roughly $6,000 to help cover Jane’s medical bills. After her death, the community’s support inspired Stoetzner and others to create the Jane Lloyd Fund, formally established in 2006.

Since then, the organization has quietly helped hundreds of local families, providing financial assistance for medical bills, utilities, gas and other basic needs during treatment. Stoetzner estimates the fund has distributed more than $1.3 million in grants. “It’s bittersweet,” she said. “It’s so gratifying that we have it — but you wish people didn’t need it.” Applications are submitted anonymously through social workers and reviewed by a volunteer advisory board.

That same spirit keeps the Harlem Line Band concerts going. The band formed 16 years ago when Miles assembled a group of Indian Mountain School parents for a school auction and stuck together long after their children graduated.

“Every one of the band members has been touched by cancer in some way,” Stoetzner said. “They could be making big money playing somewhere else, but they do this for us for free.”

For Miles, the night is more than music. “It’s like a reunion,” he said. “Everyone’s there because they want to be — to dance, listen to great music and support a great cause.”

During the set, the band always performs “Sweet Jane,” a tribute that brings the crowd together on the dance floor.

The event will take place Saturday, March 28, at the White Hart Inn in Salisbury. Music begins at 8 p.m., with $20 donations accepted at the door benefiting the Jane Lloyd Fund.

“It’s just a beautiful night,” Stoetzner said. “Great music, great people, and a lot of love in the room.”