The recently renovated Majestic Theater aided a local charity Wednesday night by hosting a fundraising event featuring five local bands.

While the event charged no admission, all donations from the event went to support Porchlight, Inc., a non-profit organization working to reduce homelessness in Dane County.

"It's really interesting to be able to combine artists and musicians with rallying around a cause to help people," said Steve Schooler, executive director of Porchlight. "That's really special."

The local trio Ben Sidran, Louka Patenaude and Frank Martinez started off the event at 5:30 p.m. with a jazz music and were followed by El Clan Destin, the Midwest Beat, Pale Young Gentlemen and Whore Du Jour.

As a volunteer-intensive agency, Porchlight offers a wide range of programs for those in need, including approximately 240 units of low-cost housing, according to Schooler.

"We have a variety of programs from shelter all the way to permanent housing to help people overcome homelessness," Schooler said. "Our goal is to reduce homelessness by providing shelter, housing and support services to help residents."

Programs like those offered by Porchlight have been especially needed recently, Schooler said, as homelessness in the area seems to have increased in the past year. As a result, Porchlight's services to single men increased by about 30 percent since 2006.

"The year before last it started an uptick, and last year we were sheltering more than 150 a night," Schooler said. "It's a growing problem for us, and I don't understand fully the reason. It seems like despite all that we're doing, it seems to increase, especially in last couple years."

Schooler said in any given year the organization houses approximately 350 people, or the equivalent of approximately 250 households. Porchlight also counsels close to 1400 households each year.

"We help a lot of different people in a lot of different ways," Schooler said.

He added that the owners of the Majestic Theater were great partners in planning the event Wednesday, as they essentially donated the club for the evening. Buncky's on Williamson Street also donated the food at the event.

After being shut down earlier this year, new Majestic Theater co-owner Scott Leslie said the idea of doing a charity event appealed to him for more than one reason.

"We thought it would be sort of a fun way to showcase the theater," Leslie said. "And it's something that we were excited about and believed in."

Leslie also said he hopes the new theater will be versatile as a music venue.

"As far as the future for charity events, we want to be a room that any type of event can go into," Leslie said. "We'd like to do any and all of it."