From AlterNet: By Adam McKibbin
Every two hours, a young person commits suicide. To raise funding for this epidemic, some concerned musicians and activists have combined forces.
This month, an unusual assemblage will make a return pilgrimage to Capitol Hill, appearing before the press and logging face time with congressmen, all with one goal in mind — increasing funding for suicide prevention. On March 1, punk band Matchbook Romance — along with 11 other bands — and their Take Action! tour mates began a two-month trek across the country, raising money and awareness for a quiet, misunderstood epidemic.
While the names of the bands on Take Action! CDs are changing from year to year, two men behind the project are constants — the National Hopeline Network founder Reese Butler and Hopeless and Sub City Records founder Louis Posen. Butler and Posen will be speaking alongside Sen. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., during the conference on Capitol Hill, and their joint efforts have helped make the Take Action! tour a shining example of all the good that can occur when music and activism cross paths.
But nobody is resting on their laurels. How could they? Not with kids in the United States between the ages of 10 and 24 taking their lives at an alarming rate of one every two hours. The suicide statistics are alarming; the prevention statistics are infuriating. As recently as 2000, the federal government allocated zero dollars to fund suicide prevention programs. In part because of the public efforts of the Take Action! tour — and the 100,000 plus petitions the tour has brought back to Washington — Congress has finally put it into the budget. But, in the grand scheme of D.C. spending, the crisis is merely getting chump change thrown at it. [Read the rest of this article]
Thats Awesome, the tour of course. We need more things like this to raise awarness. In the 60’s social issues were made sexy by presenting it with an attractive format. I’ve sent an e-mail to a couple people about this article. Thanks alot for helping to raise the awarness.