Look To The Stars News: Kiva

Interview: Death Cab for Cutie Talks to Look To The Stars

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:30:00 -0000

Summertime in Seoul, South Korea, like in many other big cities, is the time for music festivals. Being a new columnist on the interview beat here in Seoul means I had the chance to attend a few of those festivals and was able to interview some of the artists, too.

During Seo Tai-ji’s 2008 ETP Festival I sat down and talked to two of the members of Death Cab for Cutie – bassist Nick Harmer and drummer Jason McGerr – before their set. I asked them a few questions about their charity work and causes they support both as a group and as individuals.

Jason McGerr made it clear that they are a group that take their causes seriously and that they do their best to “think globally and act locally.” To this end, a portion of their concert ticket proceeds go to the Seattle Public Schools Lunch program.

Nick says, “We’re probably most active as a group with the Seattle Public Schools…to get all those kids fed.”

They also donate both time and money to various music programs in Washington State, and they give table space to non-profit organizations such as Planned Parenthood and to voter registration organizations.

In 2006, they were invited to play at the annual Bridge School Benefit. The Bridge School Benefit is a concert organized by musician Neil Young and his wife, Pegi, that takes place in Mountain View, California. The school’s mission is to help students with severe speech and physical challenges learn the skills needed to fully participate in their communities.

Also, Death Cab contributed a track to the 2007 Causes 1 benefit album to help ease the humanitarian crisis Daufur, Sudan. The benefit album is available on iTunes.

In addition, Death Cab’s guitarist and producer, Chris Walla, attended the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado along with lead singer Ben Gibbard where they performed at a few shows to benefit the political causes they support.

During the DNC they performed at the “Concert for a Cooler Planet”, the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) Rally, and the “Fix Health Care Now” rally. In addition, Chris Walla also wrote a blog from the DNC for Rolling Stone Magazine.

Individually, Nick and Jason describe Chris Walla as “the PETA guy.” Chris has been a vegetarian since he was a teenager. He made a public service announcement for PETA which encourages people to “try vegetarianism”.

Ben Gibbard is also vegetarian. As a group, Death Cab has supported PETA by giving away copies of the 2005 DVD Drive Well, Sleep Carefully. The teamwork regarding the vegetarian lifestyle and cause also shows up in how they tour. Nick and Jason describe themselves as “conscious omnivores”. However, during Death Cab’s tours they eat vegetarian meals.

Jason said, “We’ll roll that way for an entire tour just because it’s just easier having food brought in or prepared.”

“It’s easier to say the whole band is vegetarian because we can eat that, for sure, [but] they [Chris Walla and Ben Gibbard] can’t eat the other options," added Nick.

Nick donates both time and money to the 826 Valencia Writing Center. 826 Valencia is the creation of author Dave Eggers and educator Nínive Calegari. 826 Valencia mission is to support children ages 6 to 18 with their writing skills and to help educators get excited about their student’s writing. 826 Valencia started in San Francisco but now has programs in NYC, Los Angeles, Michigan, Seattle, Chicago and Boston.

Nick says “I’ve donated money and I’ve donated time. I taught a class last year at 826.”

Nick also supports Kiva. “That’s actually a really cool organization. They’re loan brokers for underdeveloped and impoverished areas where people are trying to get businesses started.”

Kiva is a non-profit organization that helps people in developing countries with small loans. Their mission is to connect people together to alleviate poverty. They do this by helping match lenders with entrepreneurs in need of small loans. Lenders browse the profiles of small business owners, choose an entrepreneur and amount to loan to the entrepreneur. Kiva’s partners then distribute the loans and often they also help the entrepreneur with training and other services to help their businesses be successful.

“I’ve been doing that for awhile. It’s been actually really great. I’ve been paid back for every loan I’ve lent out. It’s awesome to have the one-on-one connection with a business owner. It’s really personal. It’s not, like, [you] give your money to some faceless organization. It’s a really fun thing to be involved with,” Nick said.

Jason said, “[My] charitable time is in the world of music [and] the world of teaching and education, spending time in Seattle public schools [and] private teaching schools and donating my time for school camps. Because we’re able to do what we love and make our livings doing it, it is my duty to give back. The budgets in the public school system for not only lunches but for extracurricular programs are just not there anymore. Nick’s mom was a principal for years, she could tell you. My mom was a teacher was a teacher for years, so education has been in my background and upbringing for years and years and years. I used to teach in a music school and don’t have much time now, but when I do have time I certainly volunteer all my time…”

The guys in Death Cab definitely show their commitment to thinking globally but acting locally, backing up their words with both donations and with actions.

Thanks, Nick and Jason, for taking the time to talking to us about the causes important to you!

To learn more about some of the charities Death Cab for Cutie support, visit the websites below:

826 Valencia
The Bridge School
Peta.org
Planned Parenthood

Daytime's Brightest Stars Shine For One Night Only Performance

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 09:36:55 -0000

Written by Crystal A. Johnson

Young & Restless (Y&R) star Judith Chapman has gathered award-winning daytime television actors to perform a play to benefit micro-loan charity Kiva.

The inspiration to help others in a very unique way came one night when Chapman (who plays Gloria) watched a very special reading of Daniel Berrigan’s play The Trial of the Catonsville 9, which was based on the author’s experience of protesting the Vietnam war in the Catonsville incident.

Performed by the Actor’s Gang in Los Angeles, the performance Chapman saw featured the talent of Martin Sheen, Beau Bridges, Neil Patrick Harris and others. Moved by the story and the caliber of talent, Chapman decided to put together a production of the same play with daytime’s best and brightest for a worthy cause.

The cast features many daytime Emmy award winning actors. Fellow Y&R stars to perform include Christian LeBlanc (Michael), Michelle Stafford (Phyllis), Vincent Irizarry (David), Kristoff St. John (Neil), Greg Rikkaart (Kevin), Daniel Goddard (Cane), Eyal Podell (Adrian), and Emily O’Brien (Jana). Soap veterans John Hale (ex-Mike) of General Hospital and John Callahan (ex-Edmund) of All My Children will also perform. Further soap actors are to be announced later.

Berrigan’s play is a period piece which epitomizes the climate of the times and the common sentiment about the Vietnam War. The story centers around the May 17, 1968 incident when nine men and women entered the Selective Service Offices in Catonsville, Maryland, removed several hundred draft records, and burned them with homemade napalm in protest against the war in Vietnam. The nine were arrested and, in a highly publicized trial, sentenced to jail.

This act of civil disobedience intensified protest against the draft, prompted debate in households in Maryland and across the nation, and stirred angry reaction on the part of many Americans. It also propelled the nine Catholic participants – especially priest brothers Daniel and Philip Berrigan – into the national spotlight.

The proceeds for the one-night-only production of The Trial of the Catonsville 9 will go to Kiva, an organization that enables people in the West make small loans to individuals around the developing world so that they might grow a business and become more self sustaining. The event will take place on January 19, 2008 at the Palm Canyon Theatre in Palm Springs, CA. For more information on the Actors Gang, go to: http://www.theactorsgang.com/main.htm

Kiva Featured in Bill Clinton's Book, Giving: Co-Founders Tell Story on Oprah Winfrey Show

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 10:00:02 -0000

Written by Richard Frisbie

The world-changing charity Kiva is featured in former President Bill Clinton’s new book, Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World, released September 4, 2007. Chapter 2: Giving Money includes Kiva.org as one of the resources considered to be “great places to start.”

The Giving website’s stories of giving include two Kiva lenders, Brandi B and Glenda D. A quote from Glenda’s story is found at the top of every page on the site: “I have more than I need, and there are many thousands of people all over the world who have far less than they need. I just want to equalize things a little before I die. It’s as simple as that.”

As part of the book’s first-day promotion, Matt Flannery and his Kiva co-founder wife Jessica appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show featuring President Bill Clinton and his new book.

From the Oprah Show website:

Matt and Jessica Flannery were newlyweds working in East Africa when they came up with the idea for Kiva. According to Matt, $10 million in loans have been made through the organization—and 99.7 percent of the money has been repaid!

Matt says it takes about 1.5 days for the average entrepreneur to receive funding for a project through the website. “We use PayPal, who provides us free payment processing,” he says. “People loan through PayPal through Kiva, and we wire that money directly to the field partner that gives it to the entrepreneur.”

Jessica and Matt were first inspired by seeing entrepreneurs in East Africa doing great things with their families with small amounts of money.

“It’s their shot. And they just soar. They take it and they run with it,” Jessica says, and describes her delight not just “to see so many borrowers, to know that that’s happening with thousands of individuals because of Kiva, but also to know that other people can be connected and participate in the stories the way that we were.”

As a “warm-up” to the Oprah Show, Kiva also was featured on the Today Show, Monday, September 3, 2007.

Kiva is working to change the world one loan at a time. Learn more at www.kiva.org, and read Matt Flannery’s blog post about his and his Kiva co-founder wife Jessica’s appearance on the Oprah Show.

Look To The Stars News: Kiva

Interview: Death Cab for Cutie Talks to Look To The Stars

Related past articles

Daytime's Brightest Stars Shine For One Night Only Performance

Related past articles

Kiva Featured in Bill Clinton's Book, Giving: Co-Founders Tell Story on Oprah Winfrey Show

Related past articles