I'm a huge fan of Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls, but I only recently learned that their bass player, Tarrant Anderson, also runs a company called Vans for Bands that handles vehicle rentals and logistics management for touring music group. It's a pretty cool idea, and a smart niche to find.
Of course, there aren't a lot of touring bands right now.
So Tarrant and his team are retrofitting some of their tour vans and tour buses to function as on-site facilities to help healthcare workers in the UK who are working on the frontlines of the coronavirus crisis. From their fundraising page:
At Vans For Bands we are thinking of innovative ways to use our sleeper buses to help the NHS deal with the current COVID–19 crisis. We have been in touch with many hospitals throughout the UK and it's clear there is a need for on-site sleeping and rest facilities for those NHS staff who are working long or extended shifts or who need to get some well needed rest during or between gruelling 12+ hour shifts when going home is not an option.
[…]
Your generous donations will enable us to fund only the running costs for providing this invaluable service; we are not making any profit, simply covering running costs. Any unused funds will be donated to each of the hospital charities where our buses are being utilised.
It's a smart idea, and one that can definitely help; those tour buses are a lot nicer than the break rooms in the overcrowded hospitals, and even the cots are already setup to reserve about 2 meters worth of personal space for everyone (except across the aisle). They've already set up shop at Whittington Health and Lewisham Hospital in London, Hillingdon Hospital in Uxbridge, and the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.
If you're feeling generous, you can help Vans for Bands help out hospitals through their JustGiving page.
Image: Alan Light / Flickr (CC 2.0)
