In the Headlines...
Charlotte Martin:
Making a difference one person at a time
By: Nicole Roberge
When
Charlotte Martin isn’t singing behind her piano, you might find her out
on the streets. Or
perhaps at a children’s hospital. It depends what charity she is
working with at the moment, but one thing is for certain—when there is a
cause, Charlotte Martin is quick to help.
Despite having released an album, On Your Shore, in August, having a consistent touring schedule, appearing on various television shows and recording songs for other programming (she recently wrote and recorded a song called “Greater Heights” for the Advent Rising video game, to be released in March 2005), Charlotte Martin maintains her belief that it is important to help others in need. And she doesn’t just preach, she actually does something about it, and has helped out in a variety of areas.
In January of 2004, Teen People Magazine approached Martin about an online auction they were doing, asking if she would supply them with handwritten lyrics, and all proceeds would go to the American Music Conference and PENCIL (Public Education Needs Civic Involvement in Learning) to help raise money for music education. Her “Your Armor” lyrics went for several hundred dollars.
She then teamed up with
Marie Claire Magazine, Maybelline and the Starlight
Children’s Foundation for their “Do Something Beautiful” project.
She designed a t-shirt, coloring it with Maybelline products, and then
it went for sale with all proceeds
to benefit the Starlight Foundation. In addition, Martin visited a
Children’s Hospital in September to perform and Maybelline sponsored
makeovers for the kids.
Martin is also the spokesperson for the RAINN (Rape Abuse & Incest National Network) “Get Carded” Program, which focuses on the significance of RAINN and their hotline, and gives people information about where they can call or go if they are assaulted. Her song “Monster” is also featured on For the Next X: A Benefit CD for RAINN, along with artists Tori Amos, Matchbox 20, Michelle Branch and Dar Williams.
And that doesn’t count all that Martin does on her own. She has also contributed to Feed the Children, a charity providing food for those in need in America, and an organization in LA called Project Angel which delivers food to AIDS patients. Regarding her volunteer efforts, Martin said, “I’m not obsessed but I have a healthy balance about it because I believe in karma, and if you’re able to get out of yourself and give back, it not only helps the person you’re helping but it helps you.” And even with her busy schedule, she finds time to help out because for her, it sets apart the things that really matter: “Everything’s so selfish and it’s really hard not to cross over and not self-obsess as an artist about your work and what you do. Anybody who’s a musician, writer or actor—they get obsessed with their craft and that can be a very selfish career path.”
So often times Martin and her friends finds themselves buying food, water and toiletries, and when they sees someone on the street who looks like they need it, gives it to them. It’s an easy thing to do and it starts right next to you—you don’t need to sign up for a program to do it. All it takes is ten minutes, a sandwich and some water to make a difference to someone.
As Martin said, it’s easy to become self-consumed and dwell on your own projects and deadlines, but it’s tough to complain when there are so many people a lot worse off. “The best advice someone gave me years ago was my mother,” Martin noted. “She said, ‘Why don’t you go volunteer?’ I was bored in LA and I didn’t have a job and I didn’t have a record deal and I didn’t know what to do. I’d just sit there and feel bad for myself and she’s like, ‘why don’t you go do something for somebody else? It’s this really boring thing when you’re talking about how bad your life is right know when 99 percent of people out there have it way worse than you. So you don’t have a job, so you don’t have this and you don’t know what’s happening. A lot of people don’t even have anything to eat right now.’”
Martin
took that to heart and has been contributing to various organizations
since. Though she has a full plate now between her music and other
involvements, she hopes to branch out with other foundations in the
future including the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and
perhaps start her own Suicide Crisis hotline. She does recognize the
fact that being a musician and in the spotlight can help raise awareness
with her fans, but feels as she is just now building a stronger and
broader fan base, it will take time to do so on a larger scale. “At
some point, I’d love to do more. I’m still relatively a new artist. I
can raise awareness with the few thousand people that have bought my CD
but it would be really cool if I could reach more people. My little
thing’s growing, but it takes time. If I’m so blessed to have mass
success on On Your Shore then I’ll use it and try to raise
awareness. Pick a few organizations where I can really make a
difference. But right now my best effort is best expressed doing the
little bit I can in my own personal time. I’ll volunteer to do this and
that, which anybody can do. You don’t have to be a musician or an
artist to do it,” Martin said.
For others wanting to get involved, Martin said the easiest way to find a charity is to do an Internet search for places to volunteer in your hometown, and it’s amazing how many things will come up. But she also noted that many people think volunteering means committing yourself to monthly meetings and while that is commendable, it can be difficult to always match volunteer time up with your schedule. Even the simplest gestures can make a difference—“My tour manager was telling me a story about this guy on the plane sitting in first class when a marine walked on. Obviously he looked like he had been in Iraq and then the guy handed him his first class ticket and took the coach seat. And then a bunch of other marines came on, and everyone in first class and business class did it. They gave up their seats and sat in the back. That’s getting involved.”
For Martin, any time spent doing good for others is worth it. “Think outside the box and outside of yourself for ten minutes out of your life every once and a while. It’s amazing what it will do.”
For more information on Charlotte Martin, visit www.charlottemartin.com
RAINN— www.rainn.org
Starlight Foundation— www.starlight.org
Children's Hospital Photos on this page are courtesy of Erin Russell