Hey Everybody!!
Let me tell you a little story about my friend Lilli. I first heard Lilli's story at a Yonder Mountain String Band concert. Jeff, the mandolin player, asked everyone at the show to take all the amazing energy they were giving off and send it west to Oregon...to Lilli, a lil girl who was very sick. He talked about how amazing she was, how much she loved music and dancing. And then they played the song he wrote for her, "Lilli Has A Daydream". The energy was truly magical. I have never in my life felt more of a need to get involved. So the first place I turned to was the Kinfolk (Yonder's amazing "family"). I became involved with organizing and handing out "Hope For Lilli" bracelets at every Yonder show, for Lilli's family, to spread the love. This just caught on like crazy and grew into many more projects for Lilli that I have since been involved with. This led me to meet the most amazing people whom I now love and consider my family!! This is just one of the things Lilli did for me. Sadly Lilli passed away last July. Although she was so young, and the fact that I never met her in person, I learned more from her than I ever could have asked for. She was wise and changed my life. This year at Yonder's festival, Northwest String Summit in Oregon, I will be shaving my head and beard in honor of Lilli and all the other kids who have fought and are fighting cancer, but more importantly, to raise money to find cures. I am trying to raise as much money as possible before the festival and then we will be raising money all weekend while there (last year we raised thousands in one day!!) I hope you'll cheer me on with a donation! The St. Baldrick's Foundation is a volunteer-driven charity that funds more in childhood cancer research grants than any organization except the
U. S. government. Your gift will give hope to infants, children, teens and young adults fighting childhood cancers. So when I ask for your support, I'm really asking you to support these kids. Thank you! Click "Make a donation" to give online, or donate by phone or mail.
Lots of love,
Ryan
