From left to right: Bianca Sanchez, David Sanchez, Ronna Sanchez (beneficiary), Lukas Larsson (beneficiary), Katie Poppert (Vice President of Programs, and Oncology Nurse for LHS), Susan Howard (beneficiary), Genevieve Stepaniak (beneficiary), Tyler Stepaniak

The first annual Red Rocks ROCKS will take place on Saturday, September 26th at 10 a.m., at Red Rocks Amphitheater. It will be an amazing day of music, hiking and inspiration.

To hear a little about who this event will benefit and why we all should attend this event, we spoke to Love Hope Strength’s Vice President of Programs, Katie Poppert.

When did you first start planning this first Red Rocks ROCKS event?

Katie Poppert: We started planning Red Rocks ROCKS in April when our co-founder Mike Peters of The Alarm was in town.

What was your goal for this event?

KP: Our goal is to raise funds for our Get on the List campaign as well as to raise general awareness of the need for bone marrow donors.

Is this event replacing an event you hosted previously?

KP: Yes. This event is replacing Vail Rocks. We love Vail, but we’re excited to be able to offer something closer to Denver for our supporters as well as highlight the beauty of Red Rocks, where we’ve had a presence for the past several years, finding an amazing 390 potentially life-saving matches to date at Red Rocks concerts and films.

We can we expect from the music?

KP: The day will be filled with a lively punk/ska/folk combination, led by our own Mike Peters and supported by Nathen Maxwell of Flogging Molly and his local band The Bunny Gang, Jason Devore of Authority Zero, and the highly energetic Rosco Wuestewald of Onward Etc. so far on the bill.

How many people are you hoping will attend?

KP: We are looking to have between 200-250 people attend the days’ events.

Who/what will this event benefit?

KP: Proceeds of the event will go directly to support our Get on the List campaign, ensuring we can continue to register marrow donors at concerts and festivals and save lives, one concert at a time.

To this date, how many are on the list and how many matches have there been?

KP: To date, we’ve added 113,687 people to the national bone marrow registry and found 1,911 matches, giving hope to patients with blood cancer and other diseases in need of a lifesaving transplant.

About how many people are in need of a transplant?

KP: Each year nearly 20,000 people are in need of a bone marrow transplant.

If you do match with someone, what is the next step and that process like?

KP: If you’re lucky enough to match someone, roughly 80% of the time they can get the cells peripherally, somewhat like a blood donation. The other 20% is collected in an outpatient procedure under general anesthesia using hollow needles. While there is some discomfort involved in both procedures, they are both extremely tolerable and 100% worth it.

How would this donation affect someone’s life?

For the donor, it is literally giving one day out of your life to give someone in need a chance to enjoy the rest of the days of theirs.

Ultimately, why should someone attend this Red Rocks ROCKS event?

Please join us for a day of inspiring music, patient stories, and beautiful scenery. Your involvement will help ensure those in need of lifesaving transplants have access to the matches they so desperately need.

Anything else you’d like to add?

There will be an after party hosted by our friends at Hard Rock Cafe starting at 7 p.m., featuring live music from supporting artists.