Are you a musician with an album available on CD?
If so, would you be willing to donate a CD for a worthy cause?
Here’s why we’re asking.
Kent Pankow lives in Alberta, Canada, and has brain cancer. The good news is that he’s currently controlling the cancer thanks to the drug Avastin. The bad news is, however, that because Avastin costs $9,100 Canadian per month the Alberta government has been stalling in approving the drug and say the process will take up to a year to complete. Avastin has already been approved in the Canadian Government, the USA and other countries. This means that Kent’s family are having to raise the equivalent of £2,900 every two weeks to buy the drug that’s keeping him alive.
Lorelei Loveridge is a Canadian singer-songwriter currently living in Manchester. When she heard Kent’s story she was determined to do something about it. So she started a campaign – and we’d like you to help.
The campaign Lorelei started has two main objectives:
1. Raise music and money
Lorelei is asking 100 Canadian and 100 UK/Irish musicians to donate one CD plus £5 to cover postage. These CDs will be raffled off at a gala fundraising event hosted by some of the musicians who have already donated.
At the moment she’s got 75 CDs from Canadian artists, 63 CDs from UK/Irish artists, and 22 CDs from other countries, mainly the US. This means that she’s 40 CDs short of our total.
Here at Liverpool Acoustic we think it would be fantastic if at least 20 of the 40 CDs still needed came from bands or musicians here in Liverpool. The music can be of any type (not just acoustic) and it would really help the cause.
Some local performers have already donated CDs. Can you spot them in the list on the facebook event page? Liverpool is famous around the world for the generocity of its people, so let’s show them just how generous we can be.
2. Raise the public profile
The more publicity the campaign gets, the more likely the Alberta Government is to speed up the drug approval process.
This is all about the right to life, and the right cancer patients should have to treatments to help cure their diseases and prolong lives.
So if you’re as passionate about social justice as Lorelei and the 160 musicians around the world who have already donated a CD then it’s easy to take part.
Full details of the CD collection, including where to send them, can be found on the facebook event page, along with updates on the campaign and information about how you can help in other ways if you haven’t got a CD to donate.