Features
Ahhh. Sweet Relief
For struggling musicians, paying for health insurance can sometimes be the furthest thing from their mind and the last thing they can afford. That is until they get sick or break a leg and find a stack of medical bills awaiting their return from the hospital. When you can barely pay rent, how do you pay medical bills?
Enter the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, a nonprofit organization that aids musicians in need of medical care and basic assistance. Founded in 1993 by singer/songwriter Victoria Williams when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Sweet Relief not only helps those with medical needs but offers assistance for retired or semi-retired older musicians.
The organization’s latest fundraising effort is its concert ticket auction. Making good use of eBay, Sweet Relief has teamed up with some of today’s hottest artists across the musical spectrum for a ticket auction with the proceeds benefitting the fund.
Some of the artists who have donated tickets include Audioslave, Avril Lavigne, Elton John, Billy Joel, Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Norah Jones, Coldplay, Counting Crows, Foo Fighters, Queens Of The Stone Age, Phish, Beck, and Yanni.
Matchbox twenty are also offering meet-and-greet passes for shows in 11 cities on their tour.
Check out sweetrelief.org where Bruce Springsteen tickets will be specially auctioned off in June, or ebay.com/sweetrelief for all the other current auctions.