Music

No Doubt, The Strokes Contribute Custom Goods for Haiti Auction

February 10, 2010

Starting March 15th, rock fans can get their hands on custom T-shirts, wallets, tote bags and more homemade goodies thanks to Crafts for a Cause, a project spearheaded by Little Joy’s Binki Shapiro to raise money for Haiti. Shapiro tells RS she was headed to Haiti with her sister in the days after the earthquake to offer hands-on help, but wound up having to nix the trip. She raised money in the States, then “decided to rally every artist/musician I knew to create an original piece that I would then auction off.” Proceeds all go to director Paul Haggis’ organization Artists for Peace and Justice. “My sister’s accounts from Port au Prince have made it very clear to me that every single dollar can truly help,” she says.

Hope for Haiti Now: photos of the all-star benefit.

The list of goods up for auction includes bags from No Doubt and Vampire Weekend, Conor Oberst’s custom-decorated Fender Stratocaster, a Mars Volta skateboard designed by Cedrix Bixler-Zavala, handmade shirts by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Feist, and a handmade bag and wallet from the Strokes (see photos and videos of stars with their crafts on the auction’s site). Kings of Leon, Devendra Banhart, Sia, Le Tigre, Regina Spektor, Natalie Portman, Spike Jonze, Fleet Foxes, Mark Ronson and the Black Keys are also set to contribute.

“Binki has been working tirelessly for the last three weeks to raise money for the efforts in Haiti,” Strokes drummer Fab Moretti tells RS. “Her sister, Cheney, volunteered at a demolished hospital in Port au Prince and gave her family first hand accounts of the desperateness in the after effects of this earthquake. Having embraced her sister’s sense of urgency, Binki’s organized an auction that has gathered many of her friends and colleagues to decorate articles of clothing, souvenirs and even musical instruments in a very inspiring rally for help and awareness. I’m very proud that the Strokes have had a chance to be part of this.”