On March 21, 2010, I watched a special called "The Lost Children of Haiti" on CBS' 60 Minutes. After the piece was over, I couldn't get the images displayed or the story told out of my head. In particular, the story mentioned a group of children who were outside of their orphanage praying under a mango tree when the devastating earthquake of January 10th struck Haiti. At that moment, the entire structure collapsed into a heap of rubble. If the children were not under that mango tree, certain tragedy would have ensued. One phrase stuck out in my head as I went to bed and I wrote it down on a piece of paper: "They're looking for God under the Mango Tree." I turned out the lights a bit later and just couldn't sleep. I crawled out of bed in the middle of the night and wrote "Under the Mango Tree."

The only addition I made to the song after that night came later when I searched out a dear family friend, Marcia Mendola, to discuss what little I knew about the orphanage in Haiti she had been helping for numerous years. I discovered that she had been working with a wonderful organization that not only helped out in Haiti, but also provided aid in numerous other countries. She told me that my timing could not have been better and that in the wake of the earthquake, the organization had started something called the "Angels of Light" program. And with that, so arrived the refrain heard in "Under the Mango Tree."

I wanted to find a way to do something for Haiti, for friendsoftheorphans.org, with this song. I made some more calls...

Pieces of the puzzle continued to come together: Neal Cappellino, a grammy award winner from Nashville, agreed to work on the song with me and ultimately ended up donating his talent to mix the song. Artist, Steve Smock, signed on to do the logo and design work. Both of these special people generously refused to accept any monetary payment and simply expressed their desire that we do "something" to help in Haiti. Longtime friend, Pamela Schickler, turned me on to Jennifer Lafler and the Nazareth Children's Choir and they exuberantly dove headfirst into the project. Their beautiful voices complete this song and without them, I don't believe I would have been able to do all of this.

A mere six weeks later, with the help of countless people too numerous to name here, and the love and support of my family and friends, "Under the Mango Tree" was ready for distribution out on the web. I contacted my distributor, CD Baby, and drove them crazy with incessant questions and inquiries about getting the song "up" as fast as possible. In due course, this marvelous company had "Under the Mango Tree" up on their site, I-Tunes and Amazon within two days (normally this process takes 4 to 7 weeks).

I hope you enjoy the song and if you do download it, or choose to donate directly to friendsoftheorphans.org, recognize that you are continuing this amazing chain of hope, giving and love...

Thank you so much.

Angelo