Guitar for Gaza - Raffling a guitar to raise funds for the Sameer Project.

 Every day it gets more and more difficult to watch and read the news coming from Gaza. Observing the live-streamed suffering of the Palestinian people leaves me with a feeling of hopelessness - it’s impossible to know what to do to help. 

 Last year I built a guitar and gave it to Cathy McGuinness of the band Pillow Queens for a long-term loan - a product development arrangement, where I could have my guitar in the hands of a highly regarded touring musician for a year and see how the instrument held up under heavy use. Now the year is up and the guitar hasn’t missed a beat, but what now? It’s not a new guitar anymore. It has travelled, and has appeared in lights on some amazing stages. It has a year’s worth of marks and a year’s worth of play wear. It’s for this reason that it can’t be sold as new - nor should it be. This guitar has a year’s worth of stories. 

 Pillow Queens, as well as being a highly celebrated rock band, are well known for their activism and past fundraising endeavours, including a recent water aid campaign for Gaza. It’s no surprise then that Cathy & I decided that we would raffle off the guitar. We’ll be raising funds for The Sameer Project, who provide food, medical and water aid on the ground in Gaza. This is what I can do to help, and through this raffle you can help too.