By Bill Dries - The Daily News -

Philanthropy takes a lot of planning and a lot of caution – so much so that young adults might give it a wide berth when it comes to ongoing involvement in the fundraising that is a central function of philanthropy.

Since 2009, however, a philanthropic pursuit called Team Max has been bending some of the traditional guidelines.

The tool of those behind Team Max is social media, and the goal isn’t always fundraising.

Team Max is named for Max Rose, the son of Memphis philanthropist Gayle Rose – long known for her work in philanthropy as well as her work across its boundaries, including the city’s drive for an NBA franchise.

After Max’s death in January 2009, the 19-year old’s friends approached Gayle Rose about ways to continue his work with charities and nonprofits, prompting her to put together a Facebook page.

“We just kind of spontaneously put a Facebook page together and the kids like it because there’s not a real organization involved,” she said. “There’s no mission statements and committee work and all of that. We just serve.”

Team Max will be among those collecting canned food at the National Civil Rights Museum, 450 Mulberry St., on Monday, Jan. 16, the national holiday honoring civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In October, Rose went to the Facebook page and on other social media with an idea to mark the third anniversary of her son’s death.

“I thought about how Max loved music and the healing power of music,” she said of the idea to organize a concert by the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus at the Memphis Union Mission’s Opportunity Center, 600 Poplar Ave.

“It was like, what if the symphony played a concert, not just for the homeless but for us to Max – a community all together – a community all in the room together,” she said of the Jan. 3 event that drew a standing room only crowd of 400 people, including several hundred from the nearby mission shelter with Memphis Police acting as crossing guards for the group.

“What’s common here is that we are all human beings and we all experience loss,” Rose said of the event, which was not a fundraiser. “And in this room there are people who have lost their homes or lost their way. There’s also a lot of us who have lost a child or a friend or a sibling.”

The program comprised four musical selections from the symphony, starting with Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man.” Between the selections, including two featuring the chorus, were readings of Max Rose’s poems found in a notebook the Tennessee Highway Patrol returned to his parents from the car crash that took his life.

“Sometimes the cube won’t fit in the circle-shaped hole,” he wrote in one passage. “No one said it would be easy, but who wants it be easy.”

As the passage was read in a room where those who owned several homes sat next to those with no home beyond the mission shelter, people of both experiences nodded their heads.

“It is growing because I think people know that something really interesting is happening,” Rose said of the approach used by Team Max. “You don’t have to have money to come out. You don’t have to be a member of society. You just have to answer a call to come and act and then interact with people. Get to know people you don’t know and understand what’s going on in their community.”

Steve Carpenter of the mission agreed to use the old furniture store the mission turned into an outreach center this past June because there wasn’t enough room in the shelter to the west.

“We thought it all sounded like a pretty good thing and something that we thought would honor the memory of her son and also do something special for the people we serve,” he said of the approach he and others at the mission urge their first-time volunteers to take.

“We encourage them not to stand back. We encourage them to mix and mingle with the people. … Don’t stand on the periphery but sit down in the midst of people. They are people so there’s no need to stand back.”

Rose said the encounter works both ways.

“This is really about taking it to the street and just seeing what’s happening in our community and understanding that these are people,” she said. “They are not to be feared. … They deserve our respect. I’d also like to ask them to do something for us. Mostly what they can do is pray for us. It’s a reciprocal kind of relationship.”