Feed-A-Smile at the Islands of New England (07.17.13)

Hanging out after the last show, and marveling at the total on the donation board.

You all know by now that I jump at opportunities to do fundraising shows for worthwhile charities. Those have ranged from dozens of shows for Relay for Life to shows for the Kidney Foundation, for animal sanctuaries, and many more. I hate to pick favorites among these valuable charities; they're all vitally important. But I have to say that it warms my heart the most when I've performed for a little organization called Live and Learn in Kenya, and their "Feed-A-Smile" program that's run in Second Life by a wonderful lady named Brique Zeiner.

On the wall of my office/studio here in fleshy life, I have only one framed picture hung. It's a shot of the LLK kids enjoying a feast courtesy of me. Any time I get depressed about what I've done to personally make the world a better place to live, I just glance up there.

Last night, instead of the usual location at Lavender Fields, the Fee-A-Smile event was hosted by my pal Christine Haiku at the Islands of New England venue. To say it went well is a massive understatement. Four artists (Sassy Nitely, Terry Lynn Melody, and Taunter Goodnight in addition to me) did 30-minute sets, which is great for a charity show in that it keeps fresh fans coming in (preferably with their own Linden dollars to donate). I arrived at the start and stayed for the whole two hours; the music was good and the vibe was positive and fun.

While I do my best to get the message of the charity across at these shows, I'm also aware that no one likes to be admonished and preached at for hours on end. So, I briefly explained that every L$100 donated (about $0.41 USD) buys a hot meal for a kid. It's a simple concept, and one that works well in SL. We ended up with a total for the two-hour event of L$60,010. That's about $240 USD, which will feed the entire school of 400 kids for a day and a half. What could be better than that? Not a whole lot.

Feed-A-Smile at IONE set list...
I Am A Child (Neil Young)
This Afternoon (Zak Claxton)
Summer Breeze (Seals & Crofts)
Broken Day (Zak Claxton)
Come Around (Zak Claxton)
Love Hurts (Everly Brothers)

Thanks SO much to everyone who hung out, made it a fun night, and gave so generously. You're all heroes.