Power to Influence – Power to Change

If you’re like me, you have a good day job and play music for fun and (sometimes) profit. If music isn’t putting the food on your table, why not use your position to help a deserving charity? How? Here’s some suggestions.

• Wear a T-Shirt that promotes your favourite non-profit organization. How easy is that?
• Put promotional stickers on your road cases, PA speakers, amps, instruments, etc.
• Donate your share of the band’s pay. Mail it to them with a little note saying who you are, who you play for, and why you like helping them through your music.
• Donate the band’s whole cut to charity, or, play gigs specifically to benefit charity. You can be low-key just make the donation in the band’s name, but if you plan to advertise publicly that your gig will help charity – get the charity’s permission to use their name in your promo ads.
• Donate a portion of any CD or Tape sold. Getting your product into people’s hands can help both you and a needy organization.
• Make a little announcement to your audience. Hey – it works for Bob Barker. If that’s too scary, just put the charity’s info pamphlets on tables. You may have to get an OK from the club.

My weak spot is for animal cruelty organizations and shelters. The Humane Society and SPCA can have anything I make, the way I see it. It’s the very least I can do, for the good work they do. There’s a great low cost clinic here called the FACE Clinic. I love them too. Why?

Two dogs in my family were strays. My Yellow Labrador Retriever, Brandy, was kicked out of a van along a busy street one night. With no collar and no ID microchip, there was no way to find the owners to prosecute them — returning her was out of the question. I later found out that an angry husband had abandoned the dog to get even with his wife. Still, the dog was legally mine at that time, and I figured any jerk crazy enough to endanger an animal once would do it again. The second dog, a Shiba-Inu/Chow cross was lost. For days I saw it hanging around my apartment, eating from the dumpster and sleeping in piles of leaves. It took some time to earn his trust, but he was grateful to have real food and a nice place to sleep. I gave him to my brother in law, who wanted a dog badly.

What’s near to your heart? Why not be a hero in your own way?