mewithoutYou Bus Breakdown Fund
Donation protected
Last Friday, June 3rd, 2016 our beloved flowery tour bus traveled it's final mile. Six weeks into our North American Spring tour, we found ourselves in the mountains of British Columbia broken down with a catastrophic engine problem.
After the damage was assessed by a diesel mechanic in Kamloops, BC, it was clear that fixing the engine would be extremely cost prohibitive. It would take more money to save her than it would to simply buy and refurbish a whole new bus. So, we began shifting our efforts towards obtaining a temporary new bus, organizing rental vehicles, and removing all gear/personal items and salvaging what we could. We said our final goodbyes and it was tough. A lot of memories came flooding back into our minds, pieces of ourselves were laid there and left behind as we walked away and there were tears.
Before us our bus had been owned by a high school in Oklahoma. It rolled up to Philadelphia to meet us at the Electric Factory ten years with "Altus Bulldogs" plastered on the side of it. Since then we gutted the interior and built it back up from nothing. It became backdrop to our lives as a band, a place where this dream was gonna come true. We wanted to be hands on with this thing, be creative and do things with a different spirit... make it an extension of us.
Since we started posting online about our bus hardships there has been an incredible outpouring of support from our friends, families, and fans alike. People have been asking for a way to give to the band and help us to dig out of the financial hole we've found ourselves in. This GoFundMe is the outlet for that kind of support. All we are looking to do at this point is recoup what we have lost financially. Anything over our goal of $8,000 will go towards paying for the cost of the next vehicle. It's hard to say what that looks like at this point though. mewithoutYou may never have another iconic bus again, but thats okay. Ther are other ways forward and we intend to continue on.
Please share this link on Twitter and Facebook.
http://gofundme.com/mwybus and use the hashtag #mwYbus
After the damage was assessed by a diesel mechanic in Kamloops, BC, it was clear that fixing the engine would be extremely cost prohibitive. It would take more money to save her than it would to simply buy and refurbish a whole new bus. So, we began shifting our efforts towards obtaining a temporary new bus, organizing rental vehicles, and removing all gear/personal items and salvaging what we could. We said our final goodbyes and it was tough. A lot of memories came flooding back into our minds, pieces of ourselves were laid there and left behind as we walked away and there were tears.
Before us our bus had been owned by a high school in Oklahoma. It rolled up to Philadelphia to meet us at the Electric Factory ten years with "Altus Bulldogs" plastered on the side of it. Since then we gutted the interior and built it back up from nothing. It became backdrop to our lives as a band, a place where this dream was gonna come true. We wanted to be hands on with this thing, be creative and do things with a different spirit... make it an extension of us.
Since we started posting online about our bus hardships there has been an incredible outpouring of support from our friends, families, and fans alike. People have been asking for a way to give to the band and help us to dig out of the financial hole we've found ourselves in. This GoFundMe is the outlet for that kind of support. All we are looking to do at this point is recoup what we have lost financially. Anything over our goal of $8,000 will go towards paying for the cost of the next vehicle. It's hard to say what that looks like at this point though. mewithoutYou may never have another iconic bus again, but thats okay. Ther are other ways forward and we intend to continue on.
Please share this link on Twitter and Facebook.
http://gofundme.com/mwybus and use the hashtag #mwYbus
Organizer
Michael Almquist
Organizer
Philadelphia, PA
