By Justin Nam
After the devastating earthquake in Haiti earlier this year, Eddie and Jason Lee were left haunted by images of homeless families without even clean water to drink. The brothers in their early 20s lacked the finances to donate a substantial amount of money to the relief effort, so, instead, Jason, 22, took a video camera and his guitar to a New York City subway station.He filmed himself playing for passersby, later posted the video on YouTube and linked it to a fundraising website. His goal was to raise $100. After a week, he had raised $740.
The Lee brothers, along with friend Eric Lu, soon realized the power that such short films could have and launched the Jubilee Project to make videos for a good cause. The project’s name is a play on the brothers’ last name, but is also inspired by their religious faith.
“In Christianity, the year of Jubilee refers to a period of redemption, when the pain and sorrow of the world is eliminated and replaced by joy,” explained Eddie, 24 “In the same way, we want to raise awareness and support for people, groups and causes that help to rectify the injustices we see around us.”
The video subjects vary, but each film attempts to highlight a person or organization that is doing some sort of good in the community. The Lee brothers and Lu also recently released their first short film, The Waiting Game, on YouTube. Though the film is fictional, the cause that will benefit from multiple viewings of it is certainly not. The Jubilee Project has arranged for a group of donors to give 30 cents to the nonprofit Liberty in North Korea (LiNK), which assists North Korean refugees, for each view.
You can watch the film, which already has 9,000 views as of Aug. 4, here. The fundraiser for LiNK is set to end on August 8.
The three men don’t deduct overhead expenses and pay for production costs themselves. They do not consider themselves to be video professionals. They simply want to use what they have to make a positive impact.
“When we started this initiative, we agreed that this would not be something we do for money,” Eddie said. “So far, we have been provided with everything we need to accomplish our mission, and we haven’t found any reason to do it any other way.”
