Shirts For A Cure

(With Shirts For A Cure you can buy band T-shirts like the one modeled above, and help a good cause at the same time)

Alkaline Trio, Bad Religion, My Chemical Romance and Thursday are just four of the 53 bands that have teamed up with the Syrentha Savio Endowment (SSE) and Shirts For A Cure to raise money and awareness for breast cancer causes.

Music photographer Mark Beemer created the foundation in 2002, after his wife Syrentha Savio passed away due to complications from breast cancer. “I couldn’t just let the world forget who she was,” he says. “It started as kind of a memorial and kind of some weird, quasi-therapy for me.” The organization grew quickly, and the Shirts For A Cure project followed naturally since Beemer was already active in the punk-rock community.

Here’s how it works: A band donates a T-shirt design to the project, and the T-shirt becomes a Shirts For A Cure exclusive. Proceeds from sales go to SSE, which provides money for women who can’t afford expensive breast-cancer therapy and medicine. SSE donates to organizations that offer free medical services, including the Capital Breast Care Center, the Los Angeles Free Clinic and the SSE Prescription-based Coverage Program.

Each band’s T-shirt design is unique. The designs have never been used before and are only sold through Shirts For A Cure. “In my opinion, it’s one of the coolest shirts we’ve got,” says drummer Derek Grant of Alkaline Trio, one of the bands that recently joined Shirts For A Cure. “I highly urge people to buy it.”

Since its inception, SSE has raised almost $200,000. Shirts For A Cure itself has raised $75,000 in just one year.

The Shirts For A Cure project gives a voice to social concerns of the punk-rock community. “It’s more than just music—it gives back,” says Beemer. “Punk rock gives us a vehicle to educate kids about this, teach kids that they can change the world themselves.”

The members of Alkaline Trio feel that as musicians, it’s their responsibility to get involved with social and political organizations and send a worthwhile message to their fans. “As entertainers, you’re in this unique position where you kind of have a platform already,” says Grant, “and we’ve got fans that are pretty mindful and compassionate.”

Bad Religion was invited to join Shirts For A Cure by email, and bassist Jay Bentley believes it was a fateful message. “I’m a pretty firm believer that everything happens for a reason,” he says. “It seemed to make a lot of sense, and it wasn’t difficult to do. My response was simply, ‘yes.’” The band felt that the purpose of the project matched that of their music. “It’s about sharing ideas about what it means to be alive on this planet,” says Bentley.

Shirts For A Cure will have a booth at all dates of this summer’s Vans Warped Tour, where it will debut T-shirts from several more bands. Including Eels, Anti-Flag and the Dillinger Escape Plan. For now, Beemer plans to focus on the Warped Tour and add more bands to the Shirts For A Cure roster. “As long as we keep relevant,” he says, “there’s no real stopping us for now.”

For more info, or to conctribute by purchasing a T-shirt or other merchandise, visit www.shirtsforacure.com , or www.syrentha.org.