Live music can be a unifying force for good, and that will certainly be true for the upcoming 16th annual Jams for Cans food drive event for the Deep River Food Pantry on Saturday, May 21.

The food raiser, which is meant to help food-insecure people in the tri-town area, will return to its in-person setting after a virtual show in 2020 and a break last November, when it has normally been held. Both disruptions were due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, due to the rising cost of fuel and the effect of COVID putting a damper on fundraisers, the Jam for Cans event will be returning sooner than its regular date in late fall due to current shortages of food at the pantry, prompting the event’s in-person revival sooner than usual.

The event was the idea of Hillyn Natter-Schmelzer, the daughter of Face Arts Music founders and a drum teacher at the Deep River school, who wanted to help the local community through music.

“Like lots of people, I wanted to give back. I was in my early 20s thinking about life, and was like, ‘What can I do?’” Natter-Schmelzer said. “I thought of this event and started reaching out to local musicians to put it together, and it stuck.”

The performers will play in a variety of genres, from rock and roll, to folk, and classical. Musicians performing in half-hour to one-hour time slots will be students from Face Arts Music and local musicians and bands from Connecticut, all of which the school hopes will bring in more support from the community.

“When it first started, it was just local musicians, but over the years we’ve started using the first hour for student performances. Sometimes we’ll accompany them if they’re working on a rock tune and they need a band. Sometimes it will be a classical piece they are working on, you’ll see pretty much anything,” Natter-Schmelzer said. “We’ve had singers, whatever students happened to be doing. After that are the local bands.”

The concert will take place at the Deep River Ambulance Building on Saturday, May 21, from 4 to 10 p.m., and admission to the family-friendly event is 10 or more nonperishable food items for the pantry. Attendees and musicians will be offered finger food, coffee, tea, and other refreshments, while enough space will be left for attendees who get the urge to dance instead of remaining seated at setup tables.

“Depending on how tired everyone is by the end of it, we’ll usually open up a small, 20 minute jam session at the end, if anyone else is still around,” Natter-Schmelzer said.

Community members are also encouraged to bring donations of canned food and toiletries directly to Face Arts Music before and after the actual concert in the name of its cause. Donations of nonperishable items and toiletries will be accepted by Face Arts Music, 83 Main Street A2, Deep River, until May 31. For more information, call Face Arts Music at 860-526-1190.

Jams for Cans is at the at Deep River Ambulance, 284 West Elm Street, Deep River on Saturday, May 21. Student acts will run from 4 to 5:10 p.m. Guest bands and musicians will start at 5:15 p.m. and the event will close with an open jam from approximately 8:30 to 9:30 p.m.