Hello Proglodytes.

As you surely know by now, the legendary Keith Emerson has passed away. Early investigation seems to indicate that it was the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

As a mental health professional and a lover of prog, I decided to organize something in honor of Keith’s memory: a fundraiser to benefit a suicide awareness and prevention charity. I declare this “Prog Suicide Awareness Week” here at Proglodytes.

After checking the ratings of a number of charities, we at Proglodytes decided on the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention as a charity worthy of support. They organize campaigns for awareness, research on suicide via grants, and education regarding suicide.

We make absolutely no money from this fundraiser. It all goes directly to the AFSP.

If you live outside the United States and would prefer to send your money to a charity that is closer to home, please do so. You can even tell us all about it.

We also call upon our friends at other prog websites and blogs to participate. The URL for our fundraiser is here:

http://afsp.donordrive.com/campaign/prog

If you are an individual who would like to share a message of inspiration, hope, or love, please tell us all about that too. Record something and put it on YouTube! Compose a song! Write a blog post! Send a tweet! You can use the hashtag:

#progsuicideawareness

Thank you for your participation. Our goal is set at $1000, but we have no idea how this will go or how many blogs or websites will participate. We only want to help as much as we can and honor the memory of a prog legend.