Hi, everyone!  It's been my goal for a long time to perform a cabaret show in New York City.  So I chose a date that corresponded with a work event, the NCIGF Legal Seminar and I am taking this opportunity to introduce my colleagues to the St. Baldrick's Foundation, a private initiative created by insurance professionals to raise money for childhood cancer research. 

300,000 kids are diagnosed with cancer each year.  One of those was my friend Chuck's son Joey.  In the U.S., one in five will not survive, but Joey did.  Chuck and his entire family are committed to improving the survival rate. Me too and that's the primary reason I have offered to give the profits from this event to St. Baldrick's.  

I'm also want to enlist the guaranty fund community in this very unique initiative that speaks so highly of what the industry with which we are aligned does for society as a whole.  Our guaranty fund mission is to protect policyholders--people like us- and pledging resources to give kids a fighting chance to beat cancer is right in our wheel house.  

So come to the show and let me contribute the profits and then support me with your own gift to the St. Baldrick's Foundation. It is volunteer-driven and funds more in childhood cancer research grants than any organization except the U.S. government. Your gift will give hope to infants, children, teens and young adults fighting childhood cancers.

And that is what "HeartSongs" is all about: HOPE.  Hope in times that may feel uncertain. And there is never a time more uncertain for a family than when their child is diagnosed with cancer.  I watched my mother die from cancer when I was 13.  That was agonizing and frightening but I can't fathom what it would feel like to have a son, daughter or grandchild in such jeopardy.  

So when I ask you to come to this show and to consider a personal financial gift, I'm asking you to help give these kids and their families the hope they are going to need to fight this vicious, unforgiving battle.

In advance, thank you!  

Roger