Ben Goldfarb aka DJ Scribe has written a touching note to go along with a crowdsourcing campaign for NYC industry legend Judy Russell.

If you’ve been around house music in America, there’s a pretty good chance that Judy Russell is responsible for a fair amount of your record collection, either selling it (at Vinylmania in the ’80s), signing it (at legendary NYC golden age label Nu Groove) or, most recently, selling the records you love to the people who sold them to you via the now defunct Downtown161.

Ben has written the story from there:

In 2013, things took a turn for the worse for Judy. Downtown161 closed and Judy became very ill. She was in and out of the hospital, unable to work, and eventually lost her apartment. Her health finally stabilized, but having spent her savings on medical and basic expenses, she found herself without a job, and struggling to get by. Being a person who has always worked hard for everything she had, and taken care of herself from an early age, she was very hesitant to ask her friends for help. She didn’t want to be a burden to anyone. But sometimes we all need a helping hand.

 

The fundraiser is intended, “in an ideal world,” to “provide seed money for her to get herself situated in a new apartment and find a new job. After all that she has given to us and to this culture, I felt like it was the least I could do. Your generous donations, words of encouragement, and job tips are all appreciated.”

Photo via gofundme.