You might say they were singing for the suppers of several thousand.

A music festival kicked off Sunday night in Toronto, and it all began when Shauna Phelps was visiting Southeast Asia last year.

"We ended up coming across this school in Laos, it was the first time where I came in and looked around thought, 'they have nothing,'" said Phelps, the chief organizer of the Toronto Songwriters Festival.

"We came back and we just decided we're going to start a charity, so we took the steps to do that."

With a little help from some of Phelps' musically inclined friends and CityNews' own Jojo Chintoh, the First Toronto Songwriters Festival had its ribbon cut Sunday night. Money from ticket sales will go to the very children that had such an impact on Phelps while she was in Laos.

And of course, it's also a nice opportunity for local songwriters to showcase their original compositions.

"There are a lot of songwriters, a lot of people fighting for the top, but I think when they come together for something like this it sort of transcends that part of music."

Organizers hope to make the event an annual occasion, and they're already planning a January trip back to Laos in December to help build a kindergarten.