Legfest raises over $4,000 for Patrick Elkins… enough to save a significant portion of one of his legs

We haven’t yet tallied everything up, but it looks as though, between Friday night’s show at Woodruff’s, the auction, the online fundraiser, and everything else, we’ve managed to scrape together a little over $4,000 to put toward paying off the medical bills of our friend Patrick Elkins. Thank you so much to all of you who created artwork for the auction, played at the show, donated online, etc. I’m tempted to try to thank every one of you by name, but, as I know I’d leave someone out, I’ll just say, to all of you, that I really appreciate what you’ve done. Not only did you help out a truly lovely human being, but you reminded at least one grouchy old blogger what it means to be a part of a thriving, supportive community. While it sucks that we had to come together under such circumstances, it was truly beautiful to see everyone pitching in for such an awesome cause. (It was like watching the last scene of It’s a Wonderful Life play out in real life, over and over again.)

Here, for those of you who haven’t read my earlier posts on the subject, and have no idea what in the hell I’m talking about, is a clip from an article by Tom Perkins that ran on M-Live a few days ago.

Among the cast of characters in Ypsilanti, few, if any, are more colorful and beloved than musician, puppeteer and artist Patrick Elkins.

So it comes as no surprise that the community is pulling together to help Elkins as he deals with medical debt accumulated from treatment of deep vein thrombosis, a disease that causes painful and life-threatening blood clots in his legs.

Elkins just received a $9,000 bill for an overnight stay at the University of Michigan Hospital that will pile on top of the nearly $10,000 in medical debt accumulated from previous treatment.

What’s more, the arrival of the latest bill coincided with Elkins learning that his contract for his full-time job would be terminated at the end of December.

For an uninsured man, it’s a daunting bill, but Elkins’ friends are getting creative in trying to raise money to help pay down the debt…

And, here, for those of you still looking for closure, is a short video, shot earlier this evening, of Patrick and me, sitting around a fire pit, talking about everything from the auctioning of sex toys, to how lucky we are to live in this community of ours.

OK, I know I said I wasn’t going to try to thank everyone, but what the hell… Thanks to Keelan for the screen printing. Thanks to WCBN and M-Live for covering the event. Thanks to Moonhairy, Laserbeams of Boredom, Minus 9, Glass Clue, Shells & Fred Thomas, Thom Elliott and Izzy Johnson for contributing their significant talents. Thanks to Steve Gross for being an awesome auctioneer. Thanks to Sidetrack for their generosity. Thanks to Safety Girl, Cre Fuller, Nightshade Army Industries, Mighty Good Coffee, Jessica French, and everyone else, for their significant contributions to the auction. Thanks to everyone who bid. Thanks to Community Rebirth for the live painting. Thanks to the folks at Beezy’s, Encore Records and Woodruff’s for pre-selling tickets to the event. Thanks to Jennifer Scroggins for setting up the Fundrazr page, which has already brought in over $2,000. Thanks to everyone who has already given online, and to those of you who will follow in their footsteps. (We’re keeping the page up until the end of the month, so tell your friends.) Thanks to Ian Fulcher for being our master of ceremonies. Thanks to the DJs who spun records between bands. Thanks to Patrick, who gave us all an excuse to come out and do something meaningful for a change. Thanks to VG Kids for designing the posters and doing all of our printing. And thanks to Hasan for allowing us to take over Woodruff’s, in spite of the fact that Patrick and I once jumped into his bed with a video camera.