Why Benefit To Write Love On Her Arms?

Monica and I have been contacting venues and bands throughout the New York scene in pursuit of our joint benefit concert for the non-profit To Write Love On Her Arms. In between talks with friends and explaining the organization, I thought I'd fill you in on the history of TWLOHA and how I originally discovered it so you get more of a sense why this charity concert is so important to us.

History
Jamie Tworkowski founded To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA), three years ago when he met a girl who was dealing with depression, addiction, self injury and had attempted suicide. The girl was denied entry at a treatment center in Florida and for five days, he and a group of friends tried to encourage and help her. The girl gave Tworkowski permission to tell her story, which became the To Write Love on Her Arms article featured in Relevant Magazine. To help raise money for her treatment, Jamie began selling T-shirts, which bands like Switchfoot, Paramore and local New Yorkers Lights Resolve wore at concerts, helping to spread the word of TWLOHA.

The Vision
TWLOHA is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for those struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire, and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery. For an in-depth interview with Jamie, click here.

Why TWLOHA?
I'm not sure exactly how I first heard of TWLOHA. Maybe it was at a Switchfoot concert, could have been MySpace, whatever it was, the message resonated with me. Perhaps it was my desire to change the world with writing meaningful articles, but I tried everything I could to pitch what TWLOHA was doing at two of my internships at the time. While each editor acknowledged their interest in the story, for whatever reason the article never ran.

You can imagine my excitement then, when seeing more being written about TWLOHA in countless publications. The benefit concert is my way of bringing awareness where my unpublished article failed. In the upcoming weeks, in between announcing each performer, I plan on posting my article, one page at a time on You Sing, I Write. While it isn't entirely music related, I hope you'll read it.

Nearly three years ago, I spoke with three college students who dealt with and overcame self mutilation and depression as well as a counselor at Rutgers University and staff member of TWLOHA. While it was written a while back, I think the issues brought up in the article are still relevant today and finally these three stories will be told. Stay tuned.

For more on TWLOHA, visit their Web site. Have you heard of TWLOHA previously? What are your thoughts on the non-profit? What bands have you seen supporting the cause?

Related Links:
• Q&A with Switchfoot
• Q&A with Jon Foreman
• Q&A with Lights Resolve
• What Music Do You Want At YSIW's Anniversary Bash?