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How/why we got started in food drive benefit concerts:
When I was younger, Mom & Dad took us to Disney World & Epcot Center.
There we saw the exhibit on how technology would change (help) our world. We
saw all of the power sources being devised & tested, how our homes and cars
would look, but what stuck with me was the ability they portrayed on how we can
grow food in non-traditional ways. The narrator stated that soil & sunlight
and our natural resources that cannot always be relied on were now taken out
of the equation, and the people of the world would “very soon” see
an end to the hunger epidemic.
That was in the early 80's. In 2003, over 30 million people experienced hunger
in the United States alone! Someone has to do something & I don’t think
Big Brother is rushing to the forefront of this call to action.
So that leaves us little people…
But compare us to the “little” ants we see crawling and there is
a lesson to be learn, see, I’m no bug expert, but if you watch a colony
or hill of ants, it’s the “little people” that do all the
work, gather all the food for the rest, and defend the colony the best they
can.
So I wanna be an “ant”!
People have asked me how is an ordinary guy, a not very well known songwriter & musician,
and a person who, however corny or naive, is going to change the way things
are? Well, to them I say:
Watch me!!!
Seeing those giant tomatoes & beans & squash & etc…. and
hearing my Dad’s words “boy, that’s going to be nice when
it happens”, drove me to watch as I grew up. While in the US Army, I
witnessed hunger grow around the world & guys like Harry Chapin standing
up and screaming in his scratchy, baritone voice “ENOUGH” & promises
to help from before from the government were broken. Then we had musicians
band together for “Band-Aid” & “Live-Aid” and “We
are the World” that helped a little – made the rest of us a little
more aware, but what are we doing now? Today?
The 90’s didn’t get much better as the dollar shrank, the political
inactivity continued, and our TV’s would occasionally ask us for money
while flashing pics of starving children around the world. I didn’t see
very many American children being flashed on the screen, you see, that wouldn’t
be “good for business” for the politicians. We are the most powerful
country in the world and could not let it be known “we had a problem”,
us? hunger? no way! Ignoring a situation won’t make it go away.
So our first 4 years into a new millennium, where fake money and selling nothing
for millions is in style, where candidates and politicians sling more mud & lies
than the WWE (yes Tony, wrestling is fake), the problem is still here.
HOW CAN I FEED THE HUNGRY?
It will take a tremendous amount of energy to sell the idea
that every community can maintain a healthy “food bank” year
around. Organizations like Second Harvest out of Chicago, Bread
for the World, and other great organizations can only do so
much. A charitable dollar from anyone only goes so far (there’s
only thousands of good charities asking for money every day), and we still
need to take care of our own bills, feed our own kids, pay outrageous money
for everything from school functions to clothes for work to gas for the car.
Churches,
once 100% charitable have become BIG BUSINESS and need their
10 million dollar buildings, theme parks and tax exempt status,
The gov’t
hasn’t
been very good with anyone’s money and have an annual budget of 1%
of the budget going to the poor…so that leaves us. You & I. And
I can only control me.
As this grows, I am sure critics will appear out of nowhere and
take my simplistic plan to help & tear it and me to shreds,
but here I go anyway.
I don’t have any extra cash, like most, I’m not rich,
but I can do something with the only thing I can produce and am
good at – my music. Now I haven’t won any Grammies – yet,
but being able to play where you want, when you want and having
the success we’ve had on independent radio, I believe we
can do something great – you & I.
You & I can do three things; small but powerful things
to start helping others and hopefully seeing hunger eradicated.
First, we (RURedE? Music, ARBEC Publishing & myself) have
already dedicated a percentage of every dollar we earn from our
merchandise sales – every sale and any royalties from airplay
or commercials to be collected and sent on a quarterly basis to
Second Harvest in Chicago.
We have three titles; In Your Sights, Faded Glory, & Keep the Dream Alive.
The latter two have been getting airplay on independent radio, but we hope
to be crossing over to mainstream airplay by the end of the year.
We also have the usual t-shirts, caps, etc… that will be available online
or at our concerts.
Now some people will say, “you’re just trying to
sell cd’s”.
We already are selling them. Not because we are giving to charity – because
it’s good music!
But if part of what you spend for music goes to help someone in need, that
would be ok wouldn’t it? Remember the you & I part ? If I write,
produce & sing the music, which is what I do for a living, AND give part
of my living away, all you have to do is buy the music, and if you like it
(WINK WINK) you can tell other people about it. Sorta like how the music industry
is ‘sposed to work!
The second thing we can do together is to have a COMMUNITY BENEFIT
EVENT! Now, lots of people have fundraisers and parties etc… but
what if you could have a family concert event, with “family-friendly” music,
and all the people would have to bring are donations of canned
food or money to go into YOUR COMMUNITY FOOD BANK! Pretty cool,
huh? Now we specialize in those types of events because of our
knowledge of the problem, our positive message “family-friendly” music
(might want to go buy them there cd’s) and our passion for
helping others. Some communities will use their own local talent
but we would like to apply for the job anyway.
Now some people will say, ”you’re just trying to
book a gig”.
Again, this is what we do anyway, I’m a singer. I sell albums. We just
try to help with our music and in fact for our benefit concerts, I sing for
free! The only thing we ask is that the business community pay for the expenses
for a FULL PRODUCTION Concert, which when asked, we have been able to make
this very affordable for everyone. Remember the ants – they all work
to feed the community!
Lastly, make sure your food bank is set up for the community.
And do it in the spirit of helping out. I’ve been unemployed
before, and the hardest thing for me was asking for help. Imagine,
if when doing that, you had to also jump through bureaucratic
hoops just to feed your family. That is probably why our country’s
epidemic is so bad.
Also, one of the few things I preach (and actually do myself) is – when
buying groceries, have your store manager set up gift certificates you can
buy each week ($1, 5 & 10’s) that your food bank can redeem for the
food that they need. Again, just think if 100 or 1000 took $5 (which we all
blow on stuff we don’t absolutely need) each week and made sure the food
bank and the communities less fortunate were taken care of. 1000 people, giving
$5 a week, is $260,000 a year in food. (The nice thing about gift certificates
for food is they would only be redeemable for FOOD – not operating expenses
or other costs.
So there you have it. I’m here for anyone who needs help
for their community to take care of it’s own – just
like the ants!
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