Teen Musician Donates Earnings from Holiday Music to Cancer Research

The holidays are the time to be thankful for what you have and give to those less fortunate. Adopting this mantra early in life, Kate Diaz - a 15-yr-old singer, decided to write an original song called "Christmas Smiles" and donate her entire December earnings. Writing her own music and playing acoustic guitar at venues all over Chicago, all funds go to a cancer research charity called CureSearch.

"I came up with the idea to use music to raise awareness and raise funds for children's cancer research. Just to take one month and give all my tips and CD sales to children's cancer is just a cool thing for me to do. Doing it around the holiday time is a great because everyone is grateful for what they have," said Kate.

Check out Kate's appearances and her efforts to raise awareness:

In addition to playing "Christmas Smiles" solo, Kate wrote a 22-part arrangement performed by her school orchestra. During the past 3 years, Kate's performances and music sales have raised more than $2,000 for CureSearch.

How do you help others during the holidays? Go to HooplaHa.com and tell us about it!