SMRF came into being after two well-loved local musicians fought leukemia: Arnie J. Green and Leon Joseph Littlebird. Their struggles led to numerous fundraising concerts and silent auctions to help cover huge medical expenses and loss of income.

Sadly, we lost Arnie in 2015. Fortunately, aided by our community’s support, Leon recovered. It was then that a group of concerned locals formed the Summit Musicians Relief Fund to build a ‘proactive’ fund to be available when needs arise in the future within our musician community.