2020 has been a year unlike any other we have experienced, both personally and as a collective society, but we managed to pull together and that’s encouraging.
The year started out with us contacting The Glorious Sons about donating some used strings at their upcoming Kelowna concert in March, and singer Brett Emmons kindly agreed. March 8 we met up, and Brett gave us not only a set of his used strings, but a used, autographed harmonica. We put the call out on social media right away, and all strings were purchased even before the concert started a few hours later! The auction of the harmonica ensued and we collectively raised $578 which was sent to guitarist Chris Huot’s late brother’s memorial fund.
Two days later, it seemed the entire world was under sever 14 day lockdown due to Covid-19. With people facing the unknown; health concerns, job shakeups, needing to pay rent etc, we never expected to be able to raise much money this year for charity – but people stepped up! In April, Canadian Country singer Dallas Smith contacted us that he had a pile of used strings he’d been saving, and having just moved, had found them! More bracelets made, and we raised $600 for the Vancouver Food Bank, tying in to their fundraising push at the time.
In June we raised $2187 for DC Strong, from strings donated by bassist Eric Bass of Shinedown, thanks much to Hoogie his bass tech for saving them and sending them along to us, and thanks to the Shinedown fans who pitched in and supported.
July saw is raise $258 for the Vancouver Food Bank thanks to Canadian Country singer Aaron Pritchett who is a regular donor of used strings!
Summer was pretty unsettled, with people thinking life was going back to normal, only to have a surge in pandemic cases across the world, and many places heading back into temporary lockdown. By October, things had settled down somewhat. Our friends Sam Roberts Band, released their new album, ‘All of Us‘, and we raised $60 tying into the album cover colours for the die hard fans who collect a new bracelet with each album 😉
Our friends The Trews have been posting online mini concerts from their porches and couches nearly all year, and bassist Jack Syperek contacted us about his used strings – yes! Send them on over! So with bass and jazz guitar string bracelets, we raised $1089 for charity.
Comfort Doll Project has had its best year to date, despite everything that happened this year. We are encouraged by people giving back even when facing lost jobs and long term instability. Most people really do care, and really do want to find a way to give back.. as our friend Sam Roberts said, not being able to give back is the hardest part of dealing with this year’s pandemic.
All told we were able to send $4658 to various charities this year including World Vision, Vancouver Food Bank, DS Strong, Salvation Army. Thank you to all who donated strings, and donated time, shared posts, pushed our auctions, and chipped in to support the initiatives. We can’t do this without all of you.
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