Giving Back to Charlie

Charlie Cahill - if you are reading this then you have probably worked with Charlie. Charlie gave me my start as a director – having faith in my creative abilities when nobody else would have. I’m sure many of you have similar stories. Charlie loves nothing more than helping new talent follow their dreams.

Well… Perhaps he loves one thing more… Music. For Charlie, every project he has ever done has always started with music. He has helped so many musicians over the years find funding for music videos and television programming that I doubt I would be able to count them all. I will always remember how excited he would be whenever we had a successful funding application and he knew the cameras would roll. He was like a child on Christmas morning! The best part is that he was equally as excited for the musicians, actors and crew as he was for himself. Enabling everyone to do what they love was a huge part of his motivation.

This is why I am compelled to help Charlie right now and to ask others to do so. I am doing this completely behind his back and I am hoping that he will not find out prior to the completion of this effort - I would hate him to know that I have breached his confidence, but at the same time I very much feel that I want to take action. He’s a proud man, but I think we can truly help without harming his dignity.

Charlie was recently diagnosed with a health condition that will make working now and in the future an impossibility. I’m not sure if I should mention the condition, but if you would like to know more before you donate – please drop me a note. I suspect the actual condition isn’t as important as the fact that working and earning a living is quite unlikely now. The symptoms have actually been plaguing him for the last several years and I know that these years have already been a struggle and that his resources are dwindling rapidly. I spoke with Charlie a few days ago and the stress of not knowing how he’s going to manage in the future is definitely taking its toll and making a difficult situation even worse for him. While I know that any funds raised here will not permanently solve his problems, I do feel that they would give him a bit of breathing room so that he can relax and have a bit of time to figure out what to do.

I plan on giving Charlie a handmade card with the names of all of those that donated written on it. I believe that this will serve two purposes – to remind him of all of the lives that he has touched by following his dreams and helping others to do the same as well as realizing that there are a lot of people out there that care about his well-being and appreciate everything he has done. At that point he will realize that I have broken confidence, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take and one that I know he will appreciate in the end.

So… If you are able to contribute to this effort please know that It will be greatly appreciated. If you are unable to do so, please know that I totally understand. There’s absolutely no judgement and no pressure. Many of you reading this are fellow artists and may not have the ability to do so. That said, there is honestly no amount too small in this case.

With warmest wishes to you all,
Lara