Internet - Desert Bus 2019

Internet - Desert Bus 2019

Been almost 12 hours now since the end of Desert Bus. We raised $864 753 this year, an absolutely record-shattering amount. It has been a WILD 6 days.

Desert Bus benefits children around the world in hospitals. A key part of treatment is quality of life. Taking what for many children is a profoundly terrifying experience, and trying to give them a slice of normalcy. Even Canadian hospitals are on the list (Calgary Children's, Vancouver Children's, The Stollery to give a few indications.)



I've done children's shows and worked in hospitals from an entertainment perspective. Both of my parents and my sister are in the healthcare industry. I'm no stranger to how difficult treatment can be for people, but especially on children and their parents, and especially on the underprivileged or disadvantaged. I have seen first hand how kids' faces light up when you're there to interrupt the monotony of treatment. A smiling face, a listening ear, a puppet on the hand, some music and some dance. I have seen when characters in costume enter a room to entertain a group of kids, and the nurse pats a parent on the shoulder and says "You can go to the bathroom now, they'll be occupied for 15 minutes." and their shoulders sag in relief or they just weep.

There was a gruff trucker of a father sitting on a bench, flannel arms crossed for almost the entirety of the performance. I thought he was extremely bored until I was between cues and realized he was taking that half hour to sleep, jaw slacked and drooling slightly. I showed a young boy, half entangled in IV lines, the ins and outs of a mixer and two microphones, he was enraptured by my headphones and the sound of his own voice. His mother thanked me after and said it was the first time he'd smiled and laughed all day, and I just gave her a hug while she cried, because I didn't know what else to do.

The world is a profoundly terrifying place for us as adults. We look at pictures of Bolivia, of Hong Kong, of the groundswell of thousands of climate change marches every week. We are bombarded daily with images of humans in suffering, and now an equal number of humans who do not care. How much more frightening must it be for children to see our responses to such things. Our anguish at injustice, our inability to find action, our sorrow for that which we cannot seem to help with.

But we can help. We can't solve every problem immediately. And nor should we think we can. But we can get involved. We can roll up our sleeves and get to work. We can educate ourselves, and each other. We can be more empathic. And we can be louder.

And we can give.

I'm extremely proud of the time I gave this week to Desert Bus, and I hope that I give every day to everyone who asks. It starts with us, and our communities, our friends, our families, the people we interact with, and the worlds we want to make around us.

Thank you, Desert Bus. I am proud to serve. It's a profound reminder that we're not alone, we raised more than a million dollars Canadian, and we believe in better.