Concert for Hope

Hi friends-

I apologize for hardly appearing in the C-box, on Twitter- or anywhere else for that matter. Im going to tell you all a little story about where my life has led me these last few months.
For a long time now my father has been sick with Prostate cancer, along with several other health issues that have severely affected his ability to function. Working on a farm, for example, has become an incredibly difficult task for him- heck, so is walking. Currently he is at risk of losing one of his feet altogether thanks to an odd disease no doctor in Boston has been able to identify yet... let alone treat.

Resulting from my father's condition I've had to significantly change my life. I go home every weekend from school to take care of certain things he no longer can. With all the snow we've been getting, Ive had to be up in the yard doing physical work he once could. I don't mind, but the emotional weight has definitely changed my ability to accomplish certain things.

All the while, I'm supposed to graduate college this year. I'm a senior- and should be focussing on my future. Clearly, my life has come second to the demands of my family but what has definitely suffered is this blog/my work for SGP. This is something I am struggling with, as in the past it was so easy to keep up with everything. Not to mention it was/is one of the few outlets I have outside of school to keep me pushing toward a career in the entertainment industry. It's been hard to watch everything slip out of my hands for a while.

It is not a case of biting off more than I can chew, it's literally a matter of finding the moments to sit in front of the screen and focus.

While my life was in the middle of falling to pieces, I was approached by this new non-profit organization, Concert for Hope, Inc., started up by one of my best friends here at Umass Lowell. Mike is familiar with my work with SoGoPro and felt as though I'd make an incredible addition to their team. I was offered a job as their Public Relations Chair and happily took it.

Concert for Hope will team up with one charity a year and will put on several musical events in an effort to raise money for them. This year we are working with the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute in New Jersey.

We feature a band, which I am a member of, and a full orchestra- all volunteer players.

Over the next several months our band will appear in various venues, and in June our full orchestra will perform a complete program. Our company will also offer musical services to personal events, such as parties, business functions, funerals etc.

In the future we hope to offer personal, commissoned works dedicated to friends, families and victims of cancer etc. which will be performed at our large events.

I wanted to share with you the importance of music and it's power over the human body. I wanted you to hear about this new opportunity for myself, and for you all. How can you help those who suffer from terrible illnesses? Is there a way to make a difference?

We hope so.

Please check out our website, http://www.concertforhope.net/ (which is a huge work in progress...) and "like" us on Facebook... http://www.facebook.com/ConcertforHope

And as far as SoGo stuff goes- fear not. Though Ive been saying the same thing for a few months now, I will be back and we will get our features up and running again! In the meantime, hold on to hope :)