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year-round. These folks are our close friends and colleagues, and they are counting on us to help
them back on their feet.

We also recommend donations to music-focused nonprofits, such as the HART (Handy Artist Relief
Trust) Fund, which is near and dear to our hearts. Every year at the Bender, we kick off the
weekend with HART Party, a star-studded musical review and live auction to benefit the HART
Fund, which supports Blues musicians and their families in financial need due to a broad range of
health concerns impacting artists and provides acute, chronic and preventive medical and dental
care as well as funeral and burial expenses.

LL: What can we look forward to from the Big Blues Bender Festival post COVID-19?

BBB: Our wonderful community knows that music is so much more than a luxury. It’s the very
soundtrack of our lives; it’s the fuel for our souls. When we find ourselves on the other side of this
situation, we will be thirsty for the power of live music like never before. When our isolation
breaks, our social spirit will yearn for the camaraderie of like-minded spirits. The 2020 Bender
offers the promise that normal life will once again return, and music will never have sounded
sweeter.

~ Lawrence Lebo