| 11.19.03
by Kristen
Fischer
DiscoveringArtists.com
It all started with a longing to help others, and
a passion for good music. Now, six months later, the
ladies of HB Charities are gaining popularity and helping
more people everyday. We caught up with Tiffany Green,
a lovely "HB", to catch up on their growing
charity organization.
So last we talked you were setting up a few food
drives and now you ladies are everywhere! How often
are you doing drives?
We've been doing food drives at least twice a month.
Its been pretty crazy since October with Maroon 5 and
we're about to head into the Thanksgiving Season with
the wonderful Jason Mraz. Its been nothing short of
a crazy ride!
Who physically attends the drives and what organizations
are working with you?
We try to have a "HB" at every event. We've
actually broadened things a little and have opened it
up to fans of the different musicians. We also started
working with some other great girls named Asa, Emily,
KJ, and Philly who helped organize and execute some
of the drives in the Northeast and West Coast. All of
us together have definitely contributed to the cause
as a whole. Some of the organizations we are now working
with include Musicares (the Recording Academy's charity),
the Salvation Army, and of course, Second Harvest.
Do you have a street team or anything like that
to help spread the word?
We don't have an official street team. However, we
do have crazy devoted fans of the artists who print
out flyers, post them everywhere, have can collections
at their schools and workplaces, and spread the word
on online message boards. We also have been receiving
great support from Clear Channel Communications who
put out radio commercials endorsing our food drives
when they are at venues in their market.
What about the website? Anything new coming up with
that?
We don't have any new website plans as of right now.
All of that costs money, and as explained before, we
are all running on very tight college student budgets.
We have to cut corners at some level in order to keep
working on this and that's just one way we do. Besides,
the artists give us plenty of space to advertise the
drives on their websites. They are so supportive!
Are you thinking of any other artists to work with,
or are you going to stick with DeGraw, Mraz, Sister
Hazel and Maroon 5?
We are ALWAYS welcoming the opportunity to work with
other artists. We actually sponsored the Howie Day/Matt
Nathanson Food Drive out in San Francisco and one of
their fans ran it. I just spoke with another artist
the other day who was performing on the grounds of Florida
State University, and he had actually heard about the
drives through Maroon 5. The word is definitely out....
I'm sure the artist list will expand... and we're ready
to take it on!
I’m excited to see who you’ll be working
with in the future! Any cool contacts made or larger-scale
events on the horizon?
We have some pretty cool opportunities coming up.
Right now, we are working on getting our cause licensed
through the government to be able to bring some money
in to support the charities and all of our travels.
As always, we are looking for sponsorship to help out
with expenses. If you know anyone, send them our way!
Some future events include possible charity concerts
and some other things.... but you know, we have to keep
some of our future events a surprise! Just stay tuned...
that's what I'll say. Stay tuned.
Last we spoke it was like 40 hours a week you were
putting into this, how much are you up to now?
If all of us aren't at school or work, we are working
on this. Sleep has become a 3-5 hour affair. When you
love something as much as we love this, you do what
you have to do to make it successful. Go broke for what
you love, right?
How has the response been to your work from: the
general public? The bands? The fans?
The general public has been awesome. We've had great
support from the communities. The fans… you can't
say enough about them. They have exceeded our expectations
and bring huge smiles to our faces everyday. And the
bands? I don't think there are words. Some of them have
had a little more involvement than the others, but overall
they all love being a part of this with us. It’s
really refreshing to know that this budding stardom
that all of the acts we've worked with have isn't going
to their heads and they stay grounded through acts like
charity. We're proud to work with them and even prouder
to say that they are all amazing people and musicians.
What's what’s next for the awesome ladies
of HB?
Whatever gets thrown at us... we're ready to take
on the world if someone would like to give it to us.
There's no looking back now!
HB Charities is comprised of Tiffany Green, Ana
Perez, Elyse Angone and Michelle Verdugo. If you would
like to coordinate a charity event with the HB Charity
or for more information, please contact them at HBCharity@hotmail.com.
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