Jamie Sivrais is the ultimate person. I am not being cute or ironic; there aren’t many people that I admire more than Jamie. Without going into too much detail in this article, Jamie founded A Voice For The Innocent. The mission statement for AVFTI is as follows: “A Voice for the Innocent is a non-profit community dedicated to the support of those affected by rape and sexual abuse. We are a safe and compassionate space to come forward about your story and we use music and technology to provide access to long term resources.” I had the privilege of interviewing Jamie once on my idobi Radio show Waldman’s Words, and hanging out with him multiple times at multiple Warped Tours. Fun fact: I also once drove him (and AVFTI co-founder Eric Boggs; shout out to Eric Boggs) to LAX from freaking San Bernardino. That was “fun”. If you’ve ever driven anywhere in the greater Los Angeles, you understand that driving here involves an insanity plea. Fun fact part 2: I had to pee very badly from that 5335535353 hour drive and I saw a Denny’s in the distance that seemingly had urinals; I was right. Leaving Jamie and Eric (IN TRAFFIC) to perish in the non-wilderness with nothing but a spork, I then utilized one of said urinals after I bulleted from my old Honda Accord. That was also “fun”.
Anyway, here are four other organizations that Jamie would love to highlight:
1. Living The Dream Foundation – Scott said a lot about LTD (shout out to Kacie Quigley) in two separate Substream pieces (Ten Favorite Guests and Video Killed the (idobi) Radio Star), but I love that a rock and roll organization like this (actually) exists and (more than) thrives. Basically, LTD makes the days and lives for music fans with terminal illnesses by bringing said fans “behind the curtain”. Like he had done for AVFTI, Kevin Lyman of Warped Tour fame has truly championed this foundation, and made it more than synonymous with said summer festival.
2. To Write Love On Her Arms – Not only do I love the progressive and important work that TWLOHA does for the actual field of mental health, but I can say without hesitation that Jamie Tworkowski, Elizabeth Wilder, Chad Moses, and the rest of TWLOHA’s wonderful staff have all directly inspired AVFTI and countless other causes. In fact, the very first time that I envisioned AVFTI was while watching Jamie speak over a decade ago. TWLOHA provides excellent resources for those struggling with depression, addiction, self-harm, and suicide.
3. Love Hope Strength Foundation – Straight away, this is one of the hardest working non-profits out there. LHS is quite unique, and it goes on tours of all different kinds swabbing willing participants’ cheeks. After LHS does such, it signs the partaker up for the national bone marrow registry through its Be The Match Registrycampaign. It’s a truly beautiful company, and in closing, I’d like to shout out to Rob “Rover” Rushing for all of the hard hard work that he does.
4. HeadCount – It’s no secret (and quite an understatement) that we are quite a politically divided nation. Sadly, for many, that shows up as political apathy. Even sadder, nearly 50% of Americans of legal age didn’t vote in November 2015. HeadCount is a non-partisan organization that works with musicians to register voters and actively promotes participation in democracy. To wrap this up, every person that I’ve met through this organization is quite knowledgeable about each state’s registration intricacies.
So there you have it. Jamie covered four causes near and dear to him, and I touched upon Jamie’s company that is near and dear to me. Life is too short not to get involved in a positive way. Please help the world. Thank you.