Late Rush Donate – A Night for Neil, a benefit performance honoring the late Rush drummer and lyricist, took place in October at the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines, Ontario. Four Ontario charities Hospice Niagara and Niagara Health, both in St. Catharines; Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre (JHCC) in Hamilton; and Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) in Barrie received thousands of dollars from the performance earnings and product sales for the event.
Peart die of brain cancer
On January 7, 2020 in Santa Monica, California, Peart passed away from glioblastoma, a kind of brain cancer. He was 67. His sister, Nancy Peart Burkholder, who resides in Gravenhurst and participated in the October fundraising, stated, “That is our local cancer center, RVH.” “The closest friend of my dad has brain cancer. In an interview with BarrieToday, she continued, “My dad was taking him for treatment to RVH three times a week, and many of our friends who have had cancer have gone via RVH cancer center. “It’s become a really big deal to us, so we just kept contributing to their program for the cancer center,” they said. “Many friends and family members have entered the RVH doors.”
Donation made
On Monday morning at the recently renamed Neil Peart Pavilion in St. Catharines, Peart Burkholder collected a $10,000 check for the Simcoe Muskoka Regional Cancer Program. Peart Burkholder claimed to have been raising money for RVH for more than ten years through working with resorts and radio stations. “And then when Neil passed away, I started with RVH because it is our local cancer centre,” she said. We created a charity page for the Peart family with RVH, and we have been raising money there ever since. Peart himself did not receive care at RVH, but his sister is aware that he would be proud of the effort. “He was a huge charity supporter and he was involved in this one as well,” she said. “Before he went away, he always donated different items for our auctions and donation drives when I was raising money for the cancer center. a large number of T-shirts, a few (drum) sticks, and other such items.
Rush, a progressive rock/metal band consisting of Peart, bassist/singer Geddy Lee, and guitarist Alex Lifeson, gained international fame in the middle of the 1970s with hits like Fly By Night, Closer to the Heart, Tom Sawyer, Spirit of Radio, and New World Man and albums like 2112 (1976), A Farewell to Kings (1977), Permanent Waves (1980), and Moving Pictures (1981). For a portion of five decades, Rush issued studio and live albums, collecting 24 gold and 14 platinum records. In 2013, the Canadian group was admitted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Overtime Angels, which organized the St. Catharines fundraiser, is a charity committed to helping individuals, families and small organizations which do not meet the criteria for assistance from larger social service agencies.
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