Mount Aspiring College year 9 pupil Toby Mills injured his C4 vertebrae in a mountain bike accident in Lismore Park on March 17 and is now recovering in Burwood Hospital, Christchurch.
Tonight’s Rock on Toby outdoor concert at Dublin Bay, near Wanaka, will feature college musicians and the organisers are hoping for a sell-out crowd of 300.
The enthusiastic musician and sportsman is expected to take months to recover from his injury.
Cultural committee member Paige Gawn said the committee decided that because Toby loved music, a concert was the right way to raise funds for anything he might need in the future.
As of yesterday, 120 tickets had sold online and nearly $4000 had been raised.
Paige hoped the rest of the tickets would sell before the event started at 5pm.
"There will be a few ticket sales at the door but it is much better to get tickets online as it guarantees a spot."
It was too soon to know what Toby wanted to spend the funds on.
"We are hoping to put it towards his recovery but it is entirely up to him," she said.
"This concert is about uplifting his spirits".
The concert would be videoed and professionally sound-recorded before being sent to Toby, she said.
She said Toby’s friends were distraught when they learned he had been injured.
She did not know him as well as her brother Tyler (14), who was one of Toby’s best friends and in touch with him almost every day.
"We’ve got lots of videos as well from Toby’s mum, Jo. He is talking, he can move his fingers again, and he’s regaining feeling. He’s looking good for his recovery," Paige said.
Toby had been responsible for keeping his friends’ spirits up too, she said.
"He’s just a really uplifting kind of guy. He is so positive. I am really inspired by the response that he’s taken. He has been so positive and amazing. He is just a really good kid."
Toby’s parents Nick and Jo Mills have been taking turns to support him since he was first admitted to Dunedin Hospital’s intensive care unit on March 17.
Mr Mills said they were grateful for community support and impressed with how well the college cultural committee had organised tonight’s concert.
He said he and his wife felt it was right for Toby to tell his story "in his own way, when the time is right for him", Mr Mills said.
The ticketed outdoor concert is at the Dublin Bay Weddings outdoor venue, 193 Dublin Bay Rd, from 5pm to 7.30pm.
The acts include Mount Aspiring College groups Powder Chutes, Matilda & Oski and Daisy Anne.
