Monday – Elias Fund to Benefit AIDS

As the cliché saying, Dispatch may be over, but their spirit lives on. This rings true in more ways than one. First, former band member Chad Urmstom has started a new band called State Radio. Second, an organization started by the members of Dispatch, called the Elias Fund, to create awareness of the current struggles in Africa. The Elias Fund was named after a very popular Dispatch song called Elias which “dreams of a better future, a success story,” for Chad’s friend Elias whom he befriended in Zimbabwe in 1994. While in Zimbabwe, Chad kept a journal of his activities, which really captures the great potential of the nation and how special the children of the country are. In August 1994, Chad wrote, “the big difference is opportunity and it’s sad that there is such a lack of it on their part and yet their thirst for knowledge exceeds any of the schools back home – and I proved a bad example today when I said I’d rather climb trees than do homework, cause they all raised their hands when I said, ‘who likes homework?'” This displays a desire and a character that Chad missed, or even never experienced, back home in America. Though there is a beautiful thirst from the people in Zimbabwe, there is a monstrous epidemic over-taking the people- AIDS. A sad truth that many do not know is that “AIDS kills over 6500 Africans a day, and spreads to, and infects, an estimated 9500 more people a day. Most African countries vary between 15-20 percent infected with AIDS, Zimbabwe is now at between 49-70 percent infected” (www.eliasfund.org). Zimbabwe has been left to fight the worst famine the country has ever seen. There has been no relief from the U.S. because of political unrest, but there are many people and organizations with more than political interests at heart.Dispatch joins the elite crowd of celebrities who wish to create an awareness of this genocide Africa is seeing. Bono, P.Diddy, Christina Aguilera, and now Dispatch, are trying to utilize their loyal fan base to create a movement. It may seem strange, seeing celebrities preaching about an epidemic in Africa, but a piece taken from Chad’s 1994 journal makes great sense of this feat. “I sat in the back of the pick-up with [Elias] telling him what to expect in his upcoming drivers test and among other things we decided that life was hard but good and we were thankful for what we had – that may be on two different scales but deep down we meant the same thing.” The Elias Fund began with a single person and dreams for a better life. The members of Dispatch may not be in a band anymore, but they have created an organization that they hope can have an extremely positive impact on the hard times the people of Zimbabwe and all of Africa are facing. As stated in the mission of the Elias Fund, “our sole desire in the Elias Fund is to do all we can to prevent ourselves from being the generation that stood by while an entire continent silently passed away,” (www.eliasfund.org). “The Last Dispatch,” a feature-length documentary film chronicling the final days of the Napster-driven indie rock trio Dispatch, will be screened for the first time anywhere in Body Hall Room 144 on Earth Day – Friday, April 22nd – at 5:00 pm. In a time of upheaval in the music industry, their do-it-yourself style started a grassroots fan phenomenon that is changing the way indie bands – and record labels – do business. The band’s final concert, “The Last Dispatch” drew 110,000 fans from every U.S. state and 20 foreign countries for one last free show in Boston in July of 2004.Admission to the screening is $5 for the PSU community (with valid ID) and $10 for the general public. Tickets are available through the Silver Cultural Arts Center Box Office, open Monday-Friday from Noon to 6 pm or by calling (603) 535-ARTS. Proceeds will benefit Dispatch’s new non-profit, the Elias Fund.