08.27.01 - The Barenaked Ladies are making life, in a nutshell better by taking taking five non-profit charities on the road with them this summer! More info.
On the Summer 2001 Barenaked Ladies tour, five non-profit organizations were invited to conduct outreach at each show. Each group has a booth to increase public awareness of their respective focus issues and to involve new people - especially young people - in their mission. Their tables are set up by the time doors open at the show. The five non-profit charity groups touring with the BNL include: Amnesty International, Canadian Blood Services (in Canada)/National Marrow Donor Program (in the U.S.), PAX, Planned Parenthood, and the Save Our Environment Campaign/New Power Project.

More information on each organization and how the Barenaked Ladies are involved:

Amnesty International (or http://www.amnesty.ca) -
- Amnesty International believes that every human being has the right to live a life free of torture. Amnesty International is dedicated to freeing prisoners of conscience, gaining fair trials for political prisoners, ending torture, political killings and "disappearances," and abolishing the death penalty throughout the world. There are reports of torture or ill treatment by state officials in more that 150 countries.
- Amnesty's goal is to turn indifference into outrage, and outrage into action. At Barenaked Ladies' shows, Amnesty hopes to increase public awareness, strengthen and expand the grassroots efforts of our nearly 1,500 local and student groups throughout North America. Amnesty will be encouraging BNL fans to sign petitions and postcards as part of our Stamp Out Torture campaign, which seeks to galvanize people around the world in a collective effort to eradicate torture.

Canadian Blood Services (at Canadian shows) -
- Canadian Blood Services (CBS) manages Canada's blood supply in all provinces and territories outside of Quebec, and helps find matching donors for people in need of bone marrow transplants through its Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Registry. CBS operates 42 permanent collection sites for blood and blood products, 11 bone marrow donor centres, and more than 10,000 blood donor clinics annually.
- By volunteering to donate bone marrow through CBS, Canadians provide hope to critically ill people whose last and best chance for recovery is often a bone marrow transplant from a matching, unrelated donor. There are currently some 215,000 people on the Registry who have generously agreed to donate bone marrow to anyone in need. CBS's blood donors also save lives. Each unit of blood collected can help up to four people. Last year, CBS collected over 741,000 units of blood, 37,000 units of plasma, and 16,000 units of platelets. Trust, commitment, confidence and innovation are hallmarks of CBS's mission to supply Canadians with bone marrow, blood, blood products, and their alternatives.

National Marrow Donor Program (at U.S. shows) -
- The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) is the international leader in the facilitation of unrelated marrow and blood stem cell transplantation. The National Marrow Donor Program facilitates unrelated marrow and blood stem cell transplants through an extensive network of national and international affiliates. By recruiting committed donors, maintaining the largest and most diverse registry of potential volunteer donors in the world and offering patient services, at least 140 patients receive stem cell transplants through the National Marrow Donor Program each month. The National Marrow Donor Program's Registry contains more than 4 million volunteers and is the only one that searches all three sources of stem cells available: marrow, peripheral blood and umbilical cord blood.
- At Barenaked Ladies' shows this summer The National Marrow Donor Program will staff information booths at each of Barenaked Ladies concert tour locations. NMDP will raise awareness of the importance of registering, education and recruitment for the National Marrow Donor Program and its Registry.

Planned Parenthood (or http://www.roevbush.com) -
- Planned Parenthood believes in the fundamental right of each individual, throughout the world, to manage his or her fertility, regardless of the individual's income, marital status, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, or residence. We believe that reproductive self-determination must be voluntary and preserve the individual's right to privacy. We further believe that such self-determination will contribute to an enhancement of the quality of life, strong family relationships, and population stability.
- Despite the perception that information regarding sexual health and information is readily available, there are 15 million new cases of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) diagnosed each year in the U.S. This summer on the Barenaked Ladies tour, Planned Parenthood representatives from our nearly 900 centers throughout the U.S. will educate BNL fans about sexual health, birth control, safer sex, and the importance of getting involved in their communities. People will have the opportunity to ask questions, send postcards to their elected officials, receive condoms, and more. They will also be able to join our advocacy efforts by signing up for our Responsible Choices Action Email Network and Vox®: Voices for Planned Parenthood, our membership group for young, pro-choice Americans.
- The Planned Parenthood concert outreach program often presents the only opportunity that many concertgoers have to receive answers to essential questions about safer sex and reproductive health. This is the third year that the Barenaked Ladies have generously welcomed a Planned Parenthood outreach table on tour enabling Planned Parenthood representatives to connect with thousands of fans throughout the U.S. and Canada. We thank the members of the band for their support and look forward to many more summers of collaboration.

PAX -
- PAX works to bring an end to the gun violence epidemic in America,­ an epidemic that kills 10 children every day. Through innovative public health campaigns, PAX promotes practical, non-political solutions that all Americans can embrace ­ solutions that help to protect our families and children and work immediately to save lives. Last year, PAX launched the ASK Campaign (Asking Saves Kids) in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics. The ASK Campaign urges parents to ask their neighbors if they have a gun in the home before sending their children over to play. PAX is also in the development stages of the TELL Campaign, aimed at urging kids to tell a trusted school official if they learn of another child in their school who has a gun or is planning an act of violence.
- On the Barenaked Ladies summer tour, PAX will be distributing information on both the ASK and TELL Campaigns and enlisting volunteers to help spread the campaign messages in their community. In addition, PAX will be promoting National ASK Day on August 20, 2001, which is intended to raise national consciousness about the importance of asking about guns in the home.

Save Our Environment/New Power Project -
- Save Our Environment is a collaborative effort of the nation's most influential environmental advocacy organizations harnessing the power of the Internet to increase public awareness and activism on today's most important environmental issues. Mike D from the Beastie Boys has taken the lead on raising awareness of these issues within the music industry and is personally contacting artists to encourage their support for this critical effort.
- On May 17th, President Bush announced his proposed national energy plan. In theory, a national energy strategy is a good thing -- IF such an effort begins to move America towards a cleaner, more reliable energy future. But following the president's budget recommendations that slashed funding for energy efficiency and conservation while offering $2 billion in new funding for coal plants, his energy plan continues on an unbalanced path that threatens public health, the environment and our public lands.
- Drafted behind closed doors with heavy input from industry representatives who donated substantial amounts to President Bush's campaign, the plan is dominated by an emphasis on energy supply while doing little to significantly improve energy efficiency or help consumers. For example, the strategy includes, among other proposals, plans to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other public lands to drilling, increase air pollution by weakening Clean Air Act and other pollution requirements, increase subsidies to coal and nuclear industries, increase global warming pollution, encourage construction of new nuclear power plants, and more.
- To make matters worse, while the president's plan pays modest attention to energy efficiency, his proposed budget drastically cuts energy efficiency and renewable energy programs -- technologies that will provide the fastest, cleanest, and least expensive energy. Congress will now consider President Bush's energy plan as it develops energy policy legislation and sets national budget priorities. Please tell your senators that we deserve better than the president's plan to "Drill America First."
- At Barenaked Ladies shows this summer, Save Our Environment campaign representatives will mobilize a volunteer rapid reaction team who will let members of Congress know that people in their district aren't down with destroying the earth.
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