A Critically Important Announcement and a Special Event

08/30/2010 at 1:40 am | Posted in 49>50, How to this-or-that, News & Explanations | 2 Comments

I think most of us know (or remember) how it feels to be a little low on funds. But it’s much worse to be a little low on funds when other people rely on you. I’m doing an event in two days that means a lot to me, even though it’s only one of many stops on this crazy 50-state tour, for an organization that needs a little support right now.

In Biloxi, Mississippi, on Tuesday night, I’m playing a benefit concert for the Bethel Free Health Clinic, http://www.bethelfreeclinic.org/about.html. The Clinic was founded in response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. It will take place at Bethel Lutheran Church, 2521 Pass Road, at 6pm. Anyone in the area is invited to attend — I’ll be breaking out some special songs that I don’t usually perform.

But here’s what concerns you: I’m inviting my amazing online fans around the globe to participate in this fundraiser. The funds go to help the Bethel Free Clinic continue their work bringing quality health care to the many uninsured residents of South Mississippi. They already operate through the help of tons of amazing volunteers and donors, but they need you too. It’s easy: give $5, $10, $50, $100, doesn’t matter. Click here to make a donation at http://www.bethelfreeclinic.org/.

Here’s why this matters to me, Part I: I expect to arrive in Biloxi early enough to visit the clinic for a checkup myself, which I badly need and haven’t really had the spare funds to spring for. I am one of the many uninsured that create the need for clinics like this one. It’s safe to say that most of my friends and cohorts are uninsured or underinsured. I mostly skip getting any health care at all, except where clinics like this can help me out.

Last fall I had a little scare about a lump in my breast, which is something tons of women go through (see blog about it here). I can’t explain to you what panic that inspires in an uninsured young entrepreneur — you just have to go through it yourself. And odds are, you have or you know someone who has. Thankfully I’m all right, but after this winter, I see serving the uninsured as one of the most important places your donations can go. If you’ve had a friend, relative, coworker go through a serious illness uninsured, take a second to donate just a few dollars.

Here’s why this matters to me, Part II: I’m in New Orleans tonight for the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The city is both somber and celebratory, devastated and unsinkable. And, setting the tone, it’s raining and blustery. This anniversary is incredible to see for myself — I went to the thriving exciting neighborhoods and to the Ninth Ward, and listened to a lifelong resident tell me, “Oh, now we start every paragraph with ‘before the storm’ and ‘after the storm’ and we don’t even think about it.”

New Orleans is the hub of the Katrina attention, but the fact is hundreds of miles and millions of people on the Gulf Coast were affected. I think it’s particularly fitting that I’m going to play this show for the Clinic almost exactly five years after it was founded. The Gulf Coast deserves a little support in honor of how much things changed that week, and though there are tons of worthy organizations who deserve a gift on this anniversary, this is the one I’m asking you to support with a donation now. If you give five dollars, that’s something more than what they’d have otherwise. Do it now.

You guys are awesome. I know because I’m meeting scores of you every week and discovering how incredible you are myself. I love my fans and listeners, for real. I hope you’ll join me in supporting the Bethel Free Clinic. They need it and they deserve it. Thank you —

Marian

Upcoming shows, details at http://mariancall.com:

8/29 Circle Bar, New Orleans LA
8/30 Open House Concert, Sulphur LA
8/31 Fundraiser for Bethel Free Clinic, Biloxi MS
9/1 Open House Concert, Huntsville AL area
9/2 Gnu’s Room Coffeehouse & Bookstore, Auburn, AL
9/3 Warehouse Concert, tickets on sale now, Atlanta GA
9/4 Parsec Awards, Fark Party, Browncoat Shindig, Dragon*Con Atlanta GA
9/9 Fremont Abbey, tickets on sale now, Seattle WA
9/11 Cocoa Nymph Chocolatier, Vancouver BC

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