New Wheels Campaign

As you may or may not be aware, we have been dealing with some significant van issues lately with costly maintenance required to keep it on the road (isn't that always the case when you pay a vehicle off!). Now, thanks to the generosity of one donor, we find ourselves with the opportunity to potentially "move up" in transportation. Getting out of a van and into something larger will provide us with the following:

• an overall safer mode of transportation
• a more comfortable means of transportation
• the opportunity to take other artists out on tour with us and offer them transportation
• the opportunity to have our growing families travel with us

Over the course of our career we have tried to be good stewards and keep our expenses as low as possible - that's why we've been in a van for the last 10 years! We do not feel it would be good stewardship on our part to take on a large loan to finance a new vehicle. Instead, we are inviting you, our friends and fans, to see if you want to help finance the new wheels. The plan is simply this: over the next month we will share the need and give people the opportunity to donate via The Downhere Foundation (you will need to scroll down and click on the "Donate to the Downhere Foundation" button in the right column). At the end of September we will look at the total amount raised and decide at that point what direction we will go. We basically have three options:

1. USED TOUR BUS - our first choice, but also the most expensive. For the amount of shows we play a year, this would make sense.
2. CONVERTED SHUTTLE BUS - our second choice. This wouldn't be able to tow as much or ride as smoothly as a bus, but would still be more comfortable and safer than a van.
3. NEW 15-PASSENGER VAN - our final choice. We will go this route only if insufficient funds come in.

We are trusting that the Lord will make his plans for us clear through this makeshift fleece. The decision will be made for us based on how much money comes in. You can help in the following ways:

• DONATE... Every little bit helps. Many have donated already simply from an earlier blog post announcing the creation of the foundation back in June (if that is you, THANK-YOU.) We can now offer tax receipts for all gifts. You can also give gifts-in-kind (stock options, real estate, etc.). So if you or your business are in need of donating some money for tax purposes, we are now set up to be able to issue the necessary paperwork. Donation instructions are above. If you would prefer to give via check, please email us (theband@downhere.com)so that we can give you the proper instructions.
  
  
• INVITE YOUR FRIENDS TO GET INVOLVED... We would love it if you would share our story with your friends and family and invite them to become a part of our story as well.
  
  
• PRAY... We are so thankful for your faithful prayers over the years - this season is no exception. Please pray that the Lord would move in peoples' hearts to give and that we would be confident in our decision the end of September.

Thank-you again for your thoughts and prayers - as you think of us this week pray that we complete this Canadian tour strong and make it back home to our families safely. Hope to see you on the road!

The International Year

2009 is turning out to be quite an international year for us. In April we traveled to Vancouver BC to be a part of the Canadian Juno Awards celebrations. In May we were back in Denmark for some lovely time there.

June saw us again in Northern Ireland for a festival called FUEL. If you didn't catch it, while we were there Marc did a little impromptu performance of In The Light with Kevin Max formerly of DC Talk.

We're ending this summer with a Canadian tour. It's been a while since we've toured Canada so we are pumped to be able to play our home and native land again. This tour will bring us from Toronto to Vernon British Columbia.

In September we'll be back in Ontario for a weekend at my home church in Cambridge. I'm looking forward to that! Then in October we're returning to Western Canada for the Covenant Awards as well as a few Alberta shows.

And lastly, in November we'll be doing about a week of shows in Norway as well as maybe Ireland. We've played Norway before but it was such a short visit. Last time we were there it was for a festival called Seaside. We were in the country for no more than 12 hours. But man was it beautiful!

So yes, quite the international year for Downhere. On top of everything I mentioned above we've still been playing throughout America all year. We've even been able to hit up three camps this summer, two of which were beach camps plus 6 U.S. festivals. Can you tell we're having fun?

All that said, I hope we'll be in your area sometime soon so we can get a chance to say hi.

Glenn