MUSIC AGAINST HUNGER: please read

Hello,

we hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far. We wanted to let you know about a new project we've started, called In The Empire Of Builders. The sole purpose of this project/organization will be to raise money through various programs for groups and individuals in need of aid (financial or otherwise).

Please check it out and join the group on Facebook, and recommend it to your friends.

Our first fundraising campaign is called MUSIC AGAINST HUNGER, with the goal of raising $10,000 through various music events and projects. This money will be donated to the World Food Programme (WFP) to help fight world hunger. If you don't know anything about this issue (which we didn't either until recently), you really should spend 15 minutes on this website. The fact that over a billion people on this planet are currently hungry and that every 6 seconds a child dies from hunger, is reason enough to do something. And something, no matter how little it might seem to us, is so much better than doing nothing.

We thought that using music for this cause is the perfect way to go. We're currently planning a benefit album with various artists, a benefit concert in Boston, Massachusetts in December with a bunch of local bands, and a house concert series, private events with Arms and Sleepers performing modern-classical pieces. We hope that through these events and projects, we'll be able to raise $10,000 (and hopefully more). What can that amount do to help world hunger? Well, $1 feeds 4 school children in developing nations, so you do the math. If you'd like to help out in any way, you can get in touch with us via e-mail: intheempireofbuilders@gmail.com.

Please visit our campaign page on WFP's website. This is much like our Kickstarter project page. You can join to stay updated, spread the word, or start donating, if you're so inclined (donations are tax deductible). Help us make this project a success---we can't do it alone.

You can also sign the petition against hunger HERE.

To start things off, we're going to donate all the proceeds from our music and merchandise sales on BigCartel to this campaign until the end of 2010. That means the entire amount you use to purchase music directly from us (minus the shipping costs) will go toward helping fight world hunger. The previous deals still apply, so buy something, anything, and you'll be part of making a difference in this sad global problem. To purchase, click HERE. This will also apply to our upcoming releases in 2010---as long as you purchase directly from us, the money will be used for this cause.

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Why are we doing this? We're not trying to be heroes, but we don't want to be sleepers either. We've seen poverty through our travels, we've experienced financial hardships ourselves, but to know that 1 billion people are hungry is absolutely sickening. When you are hungry, you can't focus on anything---we are so privileged to be able to get food whenever we want that it's easy to forget how big of a problem this is for so many people on this planet. We've always wanted to make a positive influence in the world with our music, but we certainly have not done enough. Making a living doing what we do has proven incredibly difficult, but it doesn't compare to something like this at all. In the end, we are artists, and what we really care about is making music. We'll pass along the money to those that need it the most, and we hope you'll join us in our efforts.

Thank you for reading.