"Tremendous thanks to all of the Metallica fans who participated in our second annual day of service by volunteering at their local food bank," opens Robert Trujillo in a video posted to the band's official YouTube channel yesterday (May 23rd) in celebration of pulling off the nation-wide charity event. More than 3,000 volunteers gave their time to 50 food banks to help the San Francisco thrashers with their benefit organized through All Within My Hands, a charitable group formed by the band.
"All Within My Hands aims to encourage participation and volunteerism among the Metallica family," added James Hetfield. Lars Ulrich goes on to note that volunteers are needed around the world all the time, highlighting the importance of doing so "wherever and whenever you can."
On their recent WorldWired North American tour, the band donated $10,000 to a food bank in every city in which they played, adding to the staggering $750,000 raised by All Within My Hands in its first six months of operation alone. The band also released a live acoustic album to benefit charity — Helping Hands ... Live & Acoustic at the Masonic, which featured stripped-down performances of Metallica classics like "Enter Sandman," "Disposable Heroes" and more.
"Looking through photos from yesterday posted by people all over the country, we can't help but feel overwhelmed with gratitude ... We hope that yesterday will serve as year round inspiration and we encourage you to get out and give back in any way that you can, any day of the year," the band released in a joint statement on the organization's official site.
Read more here, and scroll down to see pics from the four members at their respective volunteer sites for the May 22nd event.
