OneRepublic launch fundraising drive to aid Connecticut school families

Pop act Onerepublic have set up a special fund to help support the families of those who were killed in the massacre at a Connecticut school on Friday (14Dec12).

A gunman, identified as 20-year-old Adam Lanza, opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 20 kindergarten students and six staffmembers before allegedly turning the firearm on himself.

The horrific shooting rampage has prompted an outpouring of emotions from stars on Twitter.com, and now the Apologize hitmakers have taken the initiative to help provide for the victims' loved ones who may be too grief-stricken to return to their jobs.

The band, fronted by singer/songwriter Ryan Tedder, launched a drive on fundraising website IndieGogo.com on Saturday (15Dec12) and filmed a short video calling on fans to give to the cause, which the band kickstarted with a $20,000 donation.

In the clip, Tedder says, "Hi, we are OneRepublic and as many of you are aware at this point, there was a tragedy that took place in Newtown, Connecticut yesterday, a shooting that's affected now the lives of hundreds of people and more specifically, the lives of 26 families.

"After tragedies like this there's all kinds of things that people wanna do... The one thing that we can do immediately is donate money to these families. A lot of these people won't be able to go back to work for weeks and weeks and weeks; some of them lost the actual breadwinners of their families. There's funerals to pay for, all kinds of medical things, both psychological and physical, that are gonna be needing funding, and the last thing that any of them should be worrying about right now is money...

"So please, if you feel so inclined to donate $5, $10, $500, $5,000, as much or as little, every single cent matters... Again, I don't know of any, more immediate way of helping the victims of the Connecticut school shooting than removing any fear of financial obligation or worry whatsoever so we'd love for you to do your part and help us with this. Thank you."

The group pledged $20,000 of its own money to the fund, and within minutes of it going live, it had raised a total of almost $35,000 .

OneRepublic's celebrity pals have been helping to spread the word about the fund - Foster The People, Sara Bareilles and actress Hayden Panettiere have already sent a link to their fans via Twitter.com.