A few weeks later, we heard that Bif was coming near our town for a show, bought tickets (our first time seeing the lovely Ms Naked live) and contacted her mgmt to ask about having the photos autographed at the show. They said yes, and so it was arranged (she did a meet and greet of sorts with most of the audience after the show). While at the show, we scooped a poster (with permission from the venue staff) and took it home until auction time. One auction package included an autographed photo of Bif with the poster, the other package was the second autographed photo along with a copy of Bif’s new cd, The Promise.

We decided to combine a few items in this last auction – items that have been kicking around for awhile… waiting for the right time to auction them off… included with Bif’s items were pictures and swag from The Trews as well as The Mudmen.

We met up with the Trews at the Nakusp Music Fest after arranging it with their mgmt people (very nice people!) and snapped this great picture of the band about 10 minutes before they were due to go on stage. The band was really into doing this and posed right there in the dressing room with their comfort doll. John-Angus MacDonald took charge of the doll and was going to fight the other guys for it (joking.. but he did end up holding the doll for the photo and did end up walking away with it still in his hands )

The festival was in July of 2010 but the time never seemed right to auction it off so we waited – in November The Trews came near our town again for an acoustic show, so again, like with Bif Naked, we contacted mgmt and asked about having the photo autographed. They were great – said yes of course, so we bought a ticket and off we went to the show. After the show, the band stayed out in the lobby of the Venue at the merch tables, signing autographs and talking to the fans, and we had them autograph the photo.. they were thrilled to see themselves with the doll in print. At the time of the photo in July, they also donated a few guitar picks (with custom signatures on them) which were included with the photo.

Another band we met up with at the Nakusp Music Festival was The Mudmen. We contacted them on their Facebook page and asked if they were interested in doing a comfort doll photo and they said ‘yes!’ We met up with them at the festival before the show but it wasnt a good time, so we met up with them after their set, when they were in the merch tent meeting with fans and signing autographs.. we dragged them (smiling and willing) into the sunlight so we could snap a pic or two.. we got two really great ones.

After they were done with the meet and greet, they donated some swag for us to auction off – a Mudmen t-shirt and a Mudmen CD.. very cool.

The auction itself did very well… on behalf of Bif Naked, The Trews, and The Mudmen, we raised $135.00 after expenses, which we used at the World Vision Gift Catalogue. With the funds we were able to purchase the following items:

3 soccer balls, 2 mosquito nets (which will protect up to 8 children in total), and we provided school lunches to 50 children for an entire month. We wanted to not only protect kids from Malaria (nets) and feed them so they can learn but also give them something to bring some fun into their lives (soccer balls). We hope that the band’s are pleased with what we chose and we are pleased that they chose to be part of our project.

What does Joel have to do with Collective Soul and Ryan? Well, Collective Soul participated in our Comfort Doll Project a few years ago and when we auctioned off the band photo, we reserved $25 dollars to ‘gift’ Ed a KIVA loan for his birthday. We formed a KIVA team called Collective Souls, and a few of us saved our money from pop/soda can returns, pennies, and such, and when we had another $25 dollars we gifted Joel Kosche a KIVA loan for his birthday. Some of us already had KiVA loans so when they were paid back, we would add another loan to Collective Souls Team in one of the band member’s names- and so it went until we had a loan for each band member (including newcomer Cheney Brannon who took over for Ryan). We also had fans join the team.

Back to Ryan – the initial loan we gifted to Ryan (Jesus from Peru) was paid back over a period of time, and Ryan asked us to choose another Entrepreneur (Rosalina also from Peru) on his behalf so we did. Again it was paid back over time, and again we chose another person (Francis from Kenya) to lend the same $25 dollars to. This is the fourth such loan we’ve done on Ryan’s behalf.

Joel from Guatemala is requesting a loan of $1200.00 so he can start a business buying and re-selling clothing including T-shirts, pants, and shirts.  His loan will be paid back monthly over 20 months, and as he pays it back, each person who has pitched in their $25.00 will get an equal amount back from his payments. Once the loan is paid back in full – all lenders will recoup their initial investment of $25.00 and be free to withdraw it or lend it to another entrepreneur!

Once Joel’s loan is paid back, we will chose another person for Ryan’s initial loan – its a gift that not only keeps on giving, but gives people a hand up rather than a hand-out… it allows them to find their own way to better their lives, kee p their kids in school, support extra dependents (often people in Africa have orphanced neices or nephews they are suddenly responsible for) – with Kiva, nearly all loans are paid back – only about 1 – 4% of loans are defaulted. Kiva is a brilliant idea.

As we said, each member in the band has a KIVA loan, and at this point, Ed, Joel and Cheney’s loans are all paid back, and we have a $25 dollar credit sitting waiting to be used!

**What we would like to do is have you, the fans, get involved in helping us chose who the next loans will go to. We’ve done this in the past via Twitter, with a poll. If you guys are interested, please post a comment here (you dont need an account to post and your email will remain hidden and private) – or post a comment on our FB page under our link to this blog – we would really love you all to be involved in this on the band’s behalf. The band have always had a warm heart for giving back, and this seemed a good way to give back on their behalf. Let us know!

From the Canadian Press:

TORONTO — Jann Arden’s latest philanthropic endeavor raised more than $50,000 for Haiti relief by auctioning off her own paintings.

But the 48-year-old is much less charitable when assessing her own artwork.

“There’s nothing that artistic about what I do,” Arden told The Canadian Press over the line from Nashville.

“I’m not good at it at all. But you’re not supposed to do things in life that you’re good at, you’re just supposed to do things in life that you enjoy doing.”

As her diverse array of cherished causes indicates, Arden enjoys dedicating her time to a multitude of charities.

In this case, though, she stresses that she didn’t really need to donate much of her time.

For years, Arden has closed her shows by spontaneously whipping up a painting onstage while her band plays around her, with her work typically centring on bald angels (“my mom is always begging me to put hair on the people that I paint, which I think is really funny,” she says.)

The paintings are then sold with the funds going to World Vision. After an earthquake ravaged Haiti, she decided to direct the funds there – through World Vision – as she toured behind her eighth studio album, 2009′s gold-certified “Free.”

“It’s a very easy thing,” said Arden, whose hits include “Insensitive” and “Good Mother.” “It’s very visual. It’s very tactile. It’s unique for the audience to see something kind of appear from the blank canvas in a very short time. I just stick to three colors.

“I don’t have a lot of time to paint the Mona Lisa.”

Yes, Arden is typically unpretentious in discussing her artwork.

She reluctantly describes her style as “folk art,” only after first declaring that she doesn’t really have a style. And as far as the inspiration behind her work?

“There’s no big cathartic moment,” explains Arden, who splits her time between Calgary and Nashville. “The guys are playing the song and the band, we’re having fun, you know, it’s the end of the night. I’m just trying not to ruin my shoes.”

“It didn’t require a lot of effort. The paintings weren’t masterpieces by any stretch of the imagination, but we were really amazed by the generosity. People were really philanthropic.”

The highest bid for a single painting came in at $8,500. Arden said that some would-be buyers who were outbid for a painting still decided to donate hundreds of dollars to the cause.

Meanwhile, Arden says she’s in the process of writing a memoir to be published this fall by Random House. She calls the book a “funny account of growing up in the Prairies.”

While some who write memoirs lament the painful process of sorting through the past, Arden says it’s been a positive experience.

“It’s a lot of fun,” she said. “I think things are only as hard as you make them. It’s been fun so far. You kind of hack through things and I’m sure half of what I’m jotting down is kind of superfluous to the story. But they have editors for that, don’t they? Then I won’t worry about it.

“And they have spell checks, so hey, I might even sound like I’m somewhat intelligent.”

Copyright © 2010 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

you can find the article original HERE

Blues Traveler kindly agreed to a photo while at the Nakusp Music Fest last July (2009) which we auctioned off December 2009. We had a snafoo for the first time in our short 3 yr history – the Canadian Post Office lost our package! When it was all said and done, it turned out it was held up at Customs due to a missing Customs form (post office) and then got lost in transit. The package – which included a well used drum stick, and a brand new autographed harmonica from John Popper, finally arrived to a very patient, and very excited winner!

We finally have it finalized – and this is what we did with the proceeds of this auction through the World Vision Gift Catalog:

• Two hens and a rooster – for breeding and eggs and eventually meat
• school feeding for 50 children for a month
• 3 soccer balls
• $20 towards Haiti Earthquake relief – this money doubles as our Canadian Govt matches dollar for dollar till Feb 12th.

We also took out a KIVA loan in the band’s name – Kiva a microfinance idea – loan an entrepreneur $25 along with many other lenders, and give them a hand up to start a new business, improve an existing one, or improve their life in a way they need. The loan is paid back over months and when its fully paid back, each lender can withdraw their initial $25 or reinvest in another loan.

We know the band will be pleased to see what good their generous spirit has done for so many.

This 8×10 glossy of NY Jazz musician Pete  Levin and his comfort doll is up for auction starting Monday Jan 25 and will run 3 days… all proceeds will go to World Vision for Haiti Earthquake Relief efforts..

The Canadian Govt will match private donations DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR until February 12 so this winning bid will double when its donated.

You can find the ebay auction Monday Jan 25 by going to Ebay.com and entering KEYWORDS:  Pete Levin Comfort Doll – or come back tomorrow for a direct link

While on Twitter today I had a thought – why is it that nobody in my circle of friends is talking much about Haiti? And it came to me quickly – its not for lack of caring – its because they *DO* care so much, because, like me later tonight while watching live coverage on the News – its so overwhelming, so devastating, that we are numb with the emotion of it. And we dont know what we can do! We can donate money of course.. but some people dont have spare cash to give so here is a small way to help.

1. If you are a band or musician and want to help - consider doing a *comfort doll photo. We will send you a knitted doll in the mail, you’ll have someone at your end take a photo of you/the band holding the doll, and send it back to us via email. We’ll auction the photo and send proceeds to one of the Haiti relief agencies – World Vision, Save the Children are the two of my immediate choice as I’ve worked with them in the past 3 yrs and trust them to get the money to Haiti immediatly. If you are willing to eat the cost of postage – we will send you a card to autograph as well, and you might donate some band swag – guitar pick, set list, used drumstick… small things. YOU will have to mail that to the auction winner (hence eating the cost of postage – about 10 bucks from Canada to Canada or Canada to USA.)

ALL MONEY donated by Canadians is going to be matched, dollar for dollar, by our Canadian Govt. up to February 12. So by us running the auction, even if we only bring in 20 dollars for your band’s photo – that translates to 40 dollars on the front lines.

AND NO you dont have to be a band with a contract. If you have a Myspace, Facebook Fan page, Twitter account and are willing to help promo the auction daily from start to end (3 days? 5 days max) all it takes is 2 fans who want that package – and the bids go up. Thats it.

*if u want to know what a ‘comfort doll’ is – please read the stickied post above this blog post*

2. IF YOU ARENT A BAND, but still want to help somehow – spread the link to this blog. Add it to your blog with a short write up. Send it to bands that you know, even if they’re unsigned. If they want to help, and have loyal fans (numbers dont matter, loyalty does – will the fans support it?) then lets get it going.

And spread this link on your twitter page – a short tweet about #Haiti and a shortened URL link – get it RT’d and lets do it.

(and yes! i’m going to be busy knitting dolls! )

BLUES TRAVELER CHARITY AUCTION – Features an 8×10 glossy of the band and some swag donated by this great group of guys… all proceeds go to World Vision. You can find the auction page HERE

Auction is on NOW and runs to Dec. 17th. GOOD LUCK BIDDING!

Yesterday Jann Arden tweeted about being home from tour and making Christmas lists for her friends/families – and mentioned she might just buy everyone a Goat. I thought this was a pretty cool comment actually, as she has been working with World Vision on her current tour (donating proceeds of her ‘on stage’ paintings to World Vision) – I knew she meant buying a Goat from the World Vision Gift Catalog in the name of her family and friends, for someone living in extreme poverty in Africa or other developing countries.

I was almost asleep last night when the thought hit me – all I want for Christmas is a rabbit. This thought came to me as I lay listening to < a href=”http://www.twitter.com/collective_soul” target=”blank”> Collective Soul on my iPod in bed – their new/current album is actually called Self Titled, but because it has a rabbit on the cover, everyone has dubbed it ‘Rabbit’. I have enough money that I”ve been able to go buy this album the day it came out in stores but many of my friends had to save for a month to go buy it – and many people in developing countries are scrimping and saving to just buy food -there are no luxuries.

Collective Soul did a contest a few months back called Pay it Forward for CS – the band is all about giving back to people and encourage their fans to do likewise… which led me to thinking about Rabbits – and about World Vision (the band recently participated in a Comfort Doll photo op which we auctioned and sent the money to World Vision)… and World Vision has Rabbits as one of the gifts you can give! A pair of rabbits are a good starter business for a family – they breed well, like rabbits and are a good source of income for selling at market, or a good source of protein for a family in need of food… so all I want for Christmas is a pair of rabbits.

Since I already have the Collective Soul ‘Rabbit’, a pair of World Vision rabbits would be wonderful. And I know that Collective Soul fans are also giving in nature – what a neat thing it would be to spread this idea around and have it multiply like … rabbits So when your friends or family ask what you want for Christmas – think about asking for a rabbit or two.

you can find the World Vision Gift catalog here: Canadian Rabbit Gift and   USA Rabbit Gift

I get a yearly update or ‘report card’ on each child as well as what is happening in their village, from World Vision people. Here is this years update:

Bekelu:
National language – good
Local language – very good
English – good
Mathmatics – very good
Science – good
Civics – very good
Social studies – good
Physical science – very good

Bekelu has been promoted from Grade 5 to Grade 6. Her favorite subject in school is Science. Her favorite sport is hand ball and her favorite animal is a sheep. Bekelu’s favorite color is green and her favorite hobby is music. She wants to be a doctor when she grows up.

Bekelu’s community has benefitted by sponsorship as well:
-construction of irrigation channel that helps farmers use water without wastage
-distribution of improved fruit seedlings and vegetable seeds to irrigation users which helps them produce income generating crops, as well as diversify their family diet
-construction of cattle crushes for effective animal treatment
-training has been significant in the community on HIV/Aids – improve awareness
-establishment of girls club in school to prevent themselves and others from harful traditional practice by teaching others through drama shows, playing advocacy roldes and conducting meetings with concerned goverment offices on the issue
-support the celebration of African Child Day to advocate child rights through it
-construction of additional school blocks which increased enrolment of of children
-provision of rewards to outstanding students to encourage students especially girls, as a result students have been much encouraged
-provision of school uniforms and school materials to registered children to strengthen school enrollment
-furniture has been supported which benefitted 1800 students
-construction of potable water scheme which comprises 2km line extension, three water points, reservoir and generator house construction – this enabled the community clean drinking water in a short distance

Luisa:
Luisa’s marks overall are ‘average’ and she has been promoted from Grade 4 to Grade 5. Her favorite subject is Portuguese and her favorite sport is Hopscotch. Luisa enjoys washing dishes and her favorite food is Rice and Salads. Her favorite color is Red and her favorite fruit is Bananas. Her and her family participated in distribution of Bed Nets in their community through World Vision sponsored donations.

The community benefitted this year:
-3 ox stalls were built to benefit more than 136 subsistence farming families. The ox stalls help with animal sanitation management.
-2 water pumps were purchased and are benefitting 103 subsistence farmers. Also, 13,000 meters of irrigation channels and draining ridges in the fields of 6 famers associations were opened. The channels and draining ridges will improve acquisition of water for the agricultural needs
-HIV/Aids training was provided for community and church leaders, as a way of helping those already infected and affected. People are more likely to listen to a religious leader talking about HIV and Aids while preaching in church. The goal is to mobilize churches to care for orphans and the chronically ill in this community
-2 boreholes were drilled that willl benefit about 1500 people each. This has made a huge difference for childrena and families by reducing distance walked to fetch water and will reduce waterborne diseases

Both communites have had many good benefits from sponsorship of their children by people from around the world… if you only do one thing – think about sponsoring a child. The impact is far reaching! And its rewarding to get updates and hand written letters and drawings from your ‘child’.

Last year Collective Soul agreed to work with us doing a Comfort Doll photo while they were in town, and we were able to do a pic of the entire band one night, develop it into an 8×10 glossy and have the band autograph it the next night – the photo did very well, bringing in $200 dollars; our single highest auction in our short 3 yr history.

This year, the band and their mgmt graciously agreed to do another Comfort Doll photo with us when they breezed through town again. The entire band and their road manager were so generous with their time it was incredible. Not only did we get a photo of the entire band holding 2 Comfort Dolls, but the band/mgmt allowed us to spend the time taking a single shot of each band member with his own Comfort Doll. We were also able to have each photo autographed just recently, when the band came back through town in support of their new Self Titled (Rabbit) album, just a few weeks ago.

Collective Soul is the only band to date that has been featured in auction more than once, and one of the few bands who have autographed photos for us and donated ‘swag’ (well used drumsticks from Cheney Brannon and a song lyrics sheet). Its incredible to work with people who have done previous Comfort Doll photos for us -more often than not our first meeting is a rushed affair; usually less than 5 minutes to snap a few shots and explain to all band members what the Comfort Doll is all about and what will happen with the auction etc. To be able to work with a band the second time is more relaxed and the guys have more fun mugging for the camera with their dolls

We auctioned the 6 photos (5 band members and one full band shot) just last week and had great response from Collective Soul fans on Twitter, Myspace, Facebook and the band’s Official Website fan forum. The bidding in the last 20 minutes was fast and furious as people tried to secure their bids as being the winning one!  Dean Roland (rhythm guitarist) tweets personally on Twitter and he visited and tweeted in the last half hour of our auction – which drove bids up too! (Thanks Dean!)

The results are tallied: after expenses (ebay, paypal, postage, photo developing) we have $400.00 in donation money and have gone to the World Vision Gift Catalog to ‘shop’. It was a hard choice to try and use it to do the most good for the most people, or use it for big ticket items – we’ve sort of tried to do both. Some of the bigger ticket items will benefit an entire community which in turn will positively affect the kids living there. This is our list:

$50 – Supply a classroom with books, art materials, pencils, paper, notebooks, rulers and more. North American companies have already donated many of these supplies–so your gift will multiply 11 times to ship and/or purchase needed supplies.

$30 – 3 Soccer balls -kids need to play and in many parts of the world children use rocks and sticks or balled up plastic bags as toys.

$50 – Irrigate Systems – Irrigation systems improve water use efficiency and help communities achieve food security during periods of drought. This gift will help provide struggling farmers with needed supplies such as pumps, pipes, sprinklers, emitters, rainwater harvesting tanks, lining materials for canals, and more. Your gift will also provide training and assistance in the proper design, construction and maintenance of systems for sustainable irrigation management.

$75 – School Feeding for 50 children – Without proper nutrition, children can’t learn. Your gift will help build and stock school kitchens and dining halls to provide nutritious lunches to 50 little ones in a rural school for an entire month. It could be their only healthy meal of the day! Because of donations from the World Food Programme, your gift will multiply 5 times in value to help children

$100 – Immunize a Community -  Every year 1.4 million children die needlessly from diseases such as measles and polio that are easily preventable. Your gift will help provide enough immunizations to protect an entire community — and save lives!

$100 – Stock a Medical Clinic -Provide basic medicines to children and families in impoverished areas of the world where hospital and health clinic shelves are often bare. North American companies have donated basic medicines like antibiotics, antimalarials, de-worming drugs, vitamins, aspirin, bandages, syringes, bed nets and more. Your gift will multiply 13 times to ship and/or purchase the needed supplies. Stock a clinic and help a community.

Many of these ‘gifts’ multiply many times over due to donation help from government agencies and other business’ generosity. We’ve split this money between health, education, clean water, and giving kids the chance to just be kids (soccer balls).

We hope the band is pleased with what we’ve been able to do on their behalf – and we thank them for their amazing generosity of time. Thanks to, to all who bid on the items – I wish everyone could have won a picture of their favorite band member. Thanks to the winning bidders for holding out for one more bid and a HUGE thanks to all those who helped spread the word about this auction to their friends, especially those ladies on Twitter who literally shouted it from the roof tops This is our most successful band auction ever!