Wednesday, May 25, 2011

I Don't Ordinarily Do This Sort of Thing, But...

... This is too important NOT to post.

Charles Rehill and I have been friends for over a decade now. I met him right as he was starting his project Lost Signal, and indeed he asked me to produce his debut album. Many years later, I signed Charles to my 23db Records label and have been releasing his music ever since.

Earlier this year, Charles and his lovely wife Kristine welcomed their first child into the world. Although he was born healthy, he arrived a bit earlier than anticipated and required special care. Despite the fact that the Rehill's had been paying nearly $1,000 a month for health coverage, their insurance company denied the claim for their son's special care leaving them stuck with a bill for over $225,000. That's right. They HAVE insurance and are now stuck with nearly a quarter million dollar bill. Needless to say, this has put the new family in a pretty precarious condition.

I know that the economy is tough right now and that many of us are struggling to get by as it is, but if you are able to help in any way, you'd be lightening their load significantly. How can you help? There's a couple ways:

1.) Kristine has started a Chipin page to accept donations and share their story. It doesn't matter how small your donation is... even a buck helps. This is the fastest and most immediate way you can help.

2.) All this summer, if you order a copy of Charles' "Eviscerate" CD through the Assemblage 23 Online Store, I will waive the shipping cost of your entire order, no matter how big it is and no matter where you live. Note that when you receive your initial order confirmation that it will list a shipping fee, but this will be removed before your items ship.

3.) Head over to Lost Signal's Bandcamp page and purchase any of Charles's excellent releases. Been looking for an excuse to pick up the new "Apparition" CD? Now you can do it and know it's going to a good cause as well.

NOTE: Although the donation site indicates that they are only accepting donations until May 18th, that's actually May 18th 2012.

5 comments:

Czad said...

What a rotten thing. I believe so strongly that healthcare should be a basic human right. Especially when children are involved.

ronnie said...

Living in the Netherlands, a country with quite a good (though dwindling) social system, I am just shocked by this story. I don't know these people but will chip in for sure.

Dylan said...

I retweeted the link to this and I'm chipping in. Sorry to have missed the show in Kinetik.

Mark said...

I'd like to know what insurance company they had. I've been reading about how Blue Shield's CEO made $4.6 million last year:

http://www.latimes.com/health/healthcare/la-fi-insurer-executive-pay-20110526,0,264582.story

Anonymous said...

They had COBRA "insurance."