Leon Pamphile may be 67 years old, but he's a huge Dave Matthews fan.

Not for the reasons you might think, however. Dr. Pamphile, a longtime Stanton Heights resident and advocate for his native Haiti, had never heard of Mr. Matthews and his band until April, when, while touring the earthquake-ravaged country, he got word that the singer had awarded him a $265,000 matching grant to help build a technical school there.

"I don't listen to music, I'm more of a reader," laughed Dr. Pamphile, executive director of Functional Literacy Ministry of Haiti, a Pittsburgh-based organization that has been working on the island nation since 1983.

"Believe me, I had never heard of him, but I'm a big fan now."

While Mr. Matthews won't be headlining a Mount Washington event Saturday to raise matching funds for the school, a number of renowned local musicians will be on hand to launch the capital campaign -- gospel singer Kathy Bynum, jazz musicians Etta Cox and Al Dowe, the Caribbean Vibes steelband and others, along with plenty of food and drink.

The fundraiser, which begins at 11 a.m., will be held at 115 Grandview Ave., the home of Donald Kortlandt and Anna Singer, WQED-FM's music programmer and midday host.

Functional Literacy Ministry has deep roots in Haiti. The organization already has built 60 adult literacy centers in and around the capital of Port-au-Prince and a school for 600 children and a community health center, both in Thomassin, about 20 miles southeast of the capital.

But after the Jan. 12 earthquake, Dr. Pamphile recognized that a trade school was needed to help Haitians learn carpentry, plumbing and other skills required in the reconstruction of the devastated country.

Enter the Building Goodness Foundation, a Charlottesville, Va.-based volunteer group of builders that has partnered with FLM in the past and has been constructing numerous schools, community centers and medical clinics in Haiti since the 1990s. One of the group's board members had connections with Mr. Matthews, who lives near Charlottesville. After some negotiations, Mr. Matthews' band awarded FLM the grant.

Howard Pape, a board member of Building Goodness Foundation, said representatives for Mr. Matthews took particular interest in the trade school because "it's about the idea that it's not the volunteers who will rebuild Haiti, it's the Haitians themselves."

Volunteer builders from Building Goodness will teach an estimated 100 students best practices in construction, from carpentry to plumbing.

FLM also is being assisted by Access Haiti, a firm providing Internet service to train operators and secretaries for their services.

The trade school project's capital campaign comes just a few weeks after $1.6 billion worth of projects was formally launched by former President Bill Clinton's foundation, but the two are hardly at cross purposes: Mr. Pape noted that a representative of the Clinton Foundation met with him, Dr. Pamphile and others in Washington two weeks ago, "and they want to work with us."

Already, $40,000 has been raised for the trade school, but FLM needs to raise much more before the scheduled groundbreaking in the spring, and the organization is hoping for even small donations, "since every dollar donated is really two dollars. If you give $25, you're really giving $50. It's a great approach," Mr. Pape said.

"Rebuilding Haiti is a long-term project. It's not going to happen overnight," said Dr. Pamphile, noting that his organization has received tremendous support from Presbyterian churches in the region.

"Just look at Katrina. But this is just one small part, one small engine of development," he said.

For more information about Saturday's fundraiser, call 412-471-4332 or send an e-mail to rbynum2124@earthlink.net.

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