OneRepublic wants to help the families of Sandy Hook's victims—now.
Ryan Tedder and his bandmates launched a fundraiser Saturday to benefit the families of those who lost their lives in Friday's tragic shooting in Newtown, Conn.
"After tragedies like this, there are all kinds of things people want to do," Ryan says. "We want to help—with prayers, concerts, charities, there's all these events and productions and things that can take place over the next few months that may or may not come to pass, but the one thing that we can do immediately is donate money to these families."
"A lot of these people won't be able to go back to work for weeks and weeks and weeks," he adds. "Some of them lost the actual breadwinners of their families; there are funerals to pay for. There are all kinds of medical things—both psychological and physical—that are going to be needing funding. And the last thing that any of them should be worrying about right now is money."
"Thankfully, it's 2012 we have the internet, and nothing is quicker than that," he says, adding that the guys already chipped in $20,000, and by the time they'd finished filming their YouTube clip, they'd amassed $15,000 more for the fund. "We'd love your help."
"Again, I don't know of any quicker more immediate way to help the victims of the Connecticut school shooting than removing any fear of financial obligation or worry whatsoever so we'd love for you to do your part, and help us in this," he says.
As of Monday afternoon, the guys have already brought in over $55,000 to help the families of Newtown. Already, Adam Levine, Hayden Panettiere, Sara Bareilles and Mark Foster from Foster the People have helped spread the word about this awesome campaign. If you'd like to help out with any amount you can, please check out OneRepublic's IndieGoGo fundraising page.