Over the years, Simple Plan has received numerous letters from fans, both here at home in Montreal and abroad, telling us how difficult their lives have been.

These letters have made us aware of the challenges many young people face on a daily basis - from depression, drug abuse and suicide to family troubles, homophobia and heartbreaking accounts of young kids hit by severe illnesses such as cancer.

It didn't take long for us to realize that the common thread in these stories was music, and the role that music can play in someone's life.

These fans were telling us how our songs were helping them deal with the difficult times they were facing, and how big an impact our music was having on their lives. Music was their escape, their lifeline, the only thing that could take away the pain that they were feeling.

As a band and as songwriters, this was a remarkably eye-opening experience. It made us want to give back - and to get involved in our community on a personal level, both locally and globally. As a result, we created the Simple Plan Foundation in December 2005. We assembled a team of volunteers and came up with three main goals:

--To support organizations working with young people facing difficult, yet typically teenage, problems.

--To support health and social-service organizations dedicated to helping ill and handicapped children and youth.

--To encourage and promote the practice of music as a way to help young people find a passion in life, and to support music-therapy programs that help sick young kids.

Each of us in the band has had a cause that has personally touched our hearts.

For me, it's the fight against cancer. Five years ago, my brother Jay went through a very tough battle against lymphatic cancer. When disaster strikes so close to home, it really changes your perspective on everything and makes you realize just how vulnerable we all are.

It had a profound effect on my family and me and made me want to help others going through the same kind of crisis.

Since 2005, the Simple Plan Foundation has donated more than $700,000 to various charitable groups in Quebec, across the rest of Canada and around the world. We have donated money to large organizations such as Leucan, the Montreal Children's Hospital, Kids' Help Phone, War Child and Red Cross Japan, and to such smaller ones as Le Phare, Musique X, Le garage du Dr Julien, Wakiponi Mobile (an initiative that helps young First Nations youth reconnect with their identities, and avoid the traps of drugs and alcohol) and, most recently, Kids Cancer Care.

Being involved with the foundation has been one of the most rewarding experiences of our lives. When we held a news conference last fall to announce our 2010 donations, we had a few representatives from the charities we have supported speak about how our donation money had been spent.

The stories we heard turned all the abstract donations and numbers into something tangible and real.

A spokesperson for GRIS (Groupe régional d'intervention sociale) Quebec told us how young gay kids who have suffered greatly from homophobia and had trouble accepting who they are were blown away that a band like ours cared about their situation and would stand up for them. A severely disabled kid came up to the podium and told us that music was the only thing that made him happy in life, and he thanked us for helping Le Phare, a place where sick children and their families can enjoy a welcome break from hospitals and take part in music-therapy programs.

As we listened to them, everyone in the band got choked up.

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