Originally summarized on Twitter.
One In An ARMY are extremely proud to announce the results of our March campaign, Create With Yoongi, benefiting the Playing for Change Foundation in honour of Yoongi's birthday!
The Playing for Change Foundation (PFCF) started from a common belief that music has the power to connect people regardless of their differences. In 2007, the Playing for Change Foundation was established as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. Their mission is to create positive change through music and arts education.
For Yoongi’s birthday, One In An ARMY chose to support the center in Patagonia, Argentina which carries out weekly music and art workshops for youth with disabilities. Over 100 youth benefit from this grass-root educational initiative. The program focuses on dance, traditional music, hip hop, graphic arts, instruments making, Mapuche language, as well as English classes.
According to Yoongi, one of the reasons for BTS’ success is because they sing about their own experiences, thoughts, and feelings. It’s this authenticity, this desire to not only be heard, but also be a method of help in the world that resonated with so many people. Yoongi in particular sought out music as a career path for that very reason. During the conversation at the Grammy Museum, Yoongi said, “When I think back to when I was a student, I listened to a lot of music, and it was a way for me to escape and to reassure myself.”
When the One In An ARMY team came together to discuss ideas for Yoongi’s birthday campaign, it was the first time the entire team agreed from the outset what cause we should organize around. Music is a fundamental part of Yoongi’s life. Music is a universal language that bridges the gap between people who wouldn’t normally wouldn’t interact with one another, but it’s also key to understanding our own existence. It’s complex and simple, sometimes at the same time, and we thought that was a beautiful metaphor for the birthday boy.
Turns out, ARMY agreed with us. During the month of March, 266 ARMY from 50+ countries were able to raise $4867 USD in honour of Yoongi's birthday! This will help PFCF buy musical instruments and technological tools for their music and healing workshops, as well as help expand their programs to reach more students!
Our friends at the Playing for Change Foundation have mailed a letter detailing everything you've done to Yoongi and Big Hit Entertainment. As always, please feel free to download this certificate and keep a copy for yourself if you donated, participated in the bonus mission, or even just shared the campaign – every little bit helps!
They also sent us a video of some of the students in Argentina jamming out to Idol on Yoongi’s birthday!
But the birthday fun didn’t stop with the main campaign! A play on Yoongi’s recent collaboration with Lee So-ra, One In An ARMY created the Bonus Mission: Dear Song.
Each week, ARMY were invited to choose a song for each prompt and write a letter to the song. As expected, ARMY once again rose to the challenge! You can their beautiful letters in the Dear Song tag on Twitter.
The One In An ARMY team had a hard time narrowing down the Bonus Mission for Yoongi, so instead of talking ourselves in circles, we decided to launch a second Bonus Mission on Yoongi’s birthday: Rollin With Stonegi.
Inspired by the time Yoongi said he wanted to be born as a stone in his next life and Taehyung told Yoongi he would carry him to beautiful places in the world, Rollin With Stongi had ARMY painting rocks with inspirational messages and leaving them all over the world for fellow ARMY or strangers to find. We hope these stones brightened the day of whoever found them because they sure brought a smile to our faces!
March was a busy time for many of us, but we’re incredibly proud that ARMY made time to do spread positivity and their love of music for Yoongi’s birthday. We know how much music touched his life, and now ARMY have passed that joy and comfort onto others!
