Healing Hands, Changing Lives, Artists4Herbie join forces to help save the lives of children.

PRLog (Press Release) - Jun. 8, 2012 - In benefit of the Herbie Fund a global charity that brings severely ill children to Toronto’s world renowned Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids) for life-saving or life-altering surgeries – surgeries that are not available to them in their home countries because of high costs and lack of medical expertise, singer/songwriters Patti Jannetta, Adrian Luces and Danny Turco have collaborated in producing a stirring and heartfelt song employing the talents of some of Toronto’s most outstanding performers. Sponsored by Gil Moore owner of Metalworks Studios artists Dave Baker, Steve Bewley, Alana Bridgewater, Michael Burgess, Andrew Craig, Davide DiRenzo, Arlene Duncan, John Ebata, Rik Emmett, Justin Hines, Gavin Hope, Patti Jannetta, Sterling Jarvis, Aaron Jensen, Adrian Luces, Jackie Richardson, Ashley MacIssac, Julie Michels, Danny Turco, and producer Michael Anthony Turco donated their time and talent to this wonderful cause. Many of these performers will be coming together on Friday June 8th at 12pm to perform the debut performance of the song “Healing Hands (Changing Lives)” at Toronto’s Yonge Dundas Square.

“I think it is so meaningful and important to the Herbie Fund that a song has been written for us and can reach out around the world. Music is an international phenomena that appeals to everyone”, Gina Godfrey said. Gina and her husband Paul Godfrey established the Herbie Fund at SickKids in 1979 in response to the needs of Herbie Quinones and children like him from around the world. Herbie, a seven-month-old baby from Brooklyn, New York, was born with a rare birth defect that made it difficult for him to breathe while eating and was the first child the Herbie Fund brought to Toronto to be saved.

More than 657 children from Mongolia, Ecuador, Russia, Kenya, Botswana, Trinidad and 95 other countries have received specialized medical and surgical assistance through the fund. The number of children helped depends entirely on the amount of money donated and unfortunately there are always more applications than the fund can support. Each year, Herbie makes surgeries possible thanks to the generous support of the community and the dedication of clinicians in a wide range of medical divisions at SickKids.

Herbie Board Members, Patti Jannetta and Adrian Luces stated, ”As singer/songwriters we wanted do so something special for the Herbie Fund and one day we looked at each other and said let’s create a song and invite a bunch of our friends to sing on it.”

Producer Michael Anthony Turco whose credits include work with Madonna, Lady Gaga, Nelly Furtado and others, said about working on the song, “When I was asked to work on this project by Patti, I was thrilled for the opportunity to give back to my community in such a special way.”

Vocal Arranger/Producer Aaron Jensen said, “It has been a true honour to work on this project with such a star-studded line-up of singers, instrumentalists, and engineers. There has been so much excitement surrounding this project! It’s been amazing to see so many mainstays of the Canadian music scene coming out of the woodwork to share their gifts for this tremendous cause”.

All are encouraged to help “make a difference one download at a time”. The song will be available at www.herbiefund.com for $1.99 each from Friday June 8th, 2012 to midnight of Sunday June 17th, 2012.

For further information about the Herbie Fund or to make a donation please visit the Herbie Fund website at www.herbiefund.com.

MEDIA Contact
Patti Jannetta - Tel: 416-805-9721
Email: pjannettabaker@sympatico.ca                           
     

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