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charity

Sailors to the Rescue!

I occasionally uncover some really cool stuff while out meeting new people and finding new places I want to try to play. Today was one of those days.

One of my Meetup groups, the Oakland Sailing Club, posted a note about a fundraiser this afternoon at the Alameda Yacht Club for the International Rescue Group. As it turns out, these folks are a relief organization based here in the Bay Area, working with sailors around the world to deliver relief supplies and aid after natural disasters. They’re currently refitting a 57′ trawler for relief work over at Alameda Point.

They’re looking for donations and help in finishing up this new boat, and they’ll have free cruises for people who help out. So check out their Website.

The event was held at Alameda Yacht Club, one of the eight or nine “drinking clubs with a boat problem” in Alameda. I was fortunate to get to spend some time hanging out with some of the club members as well, including Clair and Mark. It might work out for me to make a bit of music over there sometime soon.

Here are a couple of pictures from the day:

Stephen_michael_band_3-3-13

Stephen Michael and his band were playing some good rock music.

 

A view from the back deck at Alameda Yacht Club

A view from the back deck at Alameda Yacht Club

Feeding the People

I’d like to ask for some help, and I’m not entirely sure the right way of doing it. I’m a little awkward about stuff like this.

One of my passions is gardening and food. I don’t grow a lot of my own food, but I’ve reached a point where I keep myself in fresh fruit all summer and garlic all year, plus other bits here and there.

I get to eat three square meals (or junk meals, as the case might be) a day. I’m fortunate. Not everyone does. Food is one of those basic things we don’t notice until we don’t have it. And it’s hard to concentrate on *anything* else if you’re hungry. Especially if you’re a kid.

Part of being a Parrothead is the whole concept of “Party with a Purpose.” In order to be a Parrothead club, you must do charitable work – it’s part of the charter. And a lot of my Parrothead/Trop Rock musician friends put on fundraisers, raising tens of thousands of dollars for worthwhile causes. I envy them their ability to do this.

Today I decided to get off the stick and do something for our local food bank. It looks like they’re doing a decent job – every dollar they receive buys up to $5 in food, and a whopping 96% of every dollar they receive ends up helping feed someone. That’s a pretty good percentage.

They have a virtual food drive that you can join. You can either donate money directly, or you can click on items in a shopping-cart format and see just how far your dollars will go toward feeding someone who for whatever reason isn’t managing to feed themselves.

I’d like to offer something to encourage you to donate to help feed people. If you’d rather donate to your own local food bank, that’s cool too – I believe in helping people locally when possible. If you donate $20 or more by the end of August, I’ll send you an autographed live album. Donate $50 or more, and I’ll throw in copies of my last two CDs, Every Day’s a Holiday and Island Standard Time. All autographed and personalized. Just forward me a copy of your email receipt to music1 -at- lorendavidson.com, and include your mailing address and whom you’d like me to make the CDs out to.

I’m not good at asking for stuff, so I hope you’ll see past any awkward language here and hear that I really want to do something positive, and hopefully leverage that beyond my own meager abilities. I made my own donation today, and I feel pretty good about that. Will you make yours?

Thanks for listening,

Loren