LRT’s Cary Harrison puts LRT’s “Awareness” model to good use today when the famed KPFK.fm partnered with the national charity, RIP Medical Debt, to abolish one million dollars in unpayable medical debt currently burdening LA county.
It’s even more aggressive than that.
Between the hour of 5-6 p.m. PST today, Cary’s one-man/one-hour telethon intends to bring in enough donations from KPFK listeners and RIP fans IN ONE HOUR to accomplish that goal.
“In Los Angeles and around the country, KPFK fans have supported our work over the years,” Harrison says. “RIP is already famous for having to date abolished over $5 BILLION in medical debt and has a great fan base. These two organizations are committed to seeing $1,000,000 in hospital bills across Los Angeles – right up the the Pacific Ocean –wiped out.”
“We think that we can do that in one hour if we get the support from listeners that we believe we will,” he adds emphatically. “Since each dollar in donation can purchase $50 - $100 in medical debt, raising from $5-$10,000 is possible. It’s just not been done before.
Let’s Rethink This has more than a casual interest in seeing this campaign be successful. Jerry Ashton, who founded LRT, is also the co-founder of RIP Medical Debt (and now retired to the board.) He and Cary, LRT’s Broadcast Director, conceived the idea several months ago and had no trouble enlisting RIP and KPFK into this first ever public-radio/public charity venture.
KPFK provides the southern California awareness; RIP provides the debt forgiveness platform which enables it to pinpoint Angelenos needing this help. LRT provides talent to both organizations.
So, set your clocks to 5 p.m. PST today, 11/11/2021, and tune in to KPFK here. Don’t forget to bring an open purse along with your open heart.
Jerry Ashton walked into Occupy Wall Street in 2011 as a debt collector, and walked out of that experience two years later as a debt forgiver – literally rethinking his profession to co-found RIP Medical Debt in 2014 to reverse the ills caused by that industry. Six years later at the time of his retirement, his charity had successfully abolished over $2.7 billion in unpayable medical debt for over 1,800,000 Americans across the U.S. As of this writing, the total debt abolished is over $5 billion over almost 4 million people.
Jerry founded Let's Rethink This in late 2020 with the intention of seeing that lightning can strike twice. This time as a “B” Corp and not a charity, Jerry and his co-creators intend to bring about $1 billion in social and economic good this time through a unique Searchlight/Spotlight/Ignite model.