You don’t mess with the almighty Norma Jean. This time, instead of breaking out the shotguns and going to town, they’ve reached out to the internet to be their army. In a recent Facebook post, Norma Jean vocalist/guitarist Cory Brandan addressed the band’s fans and followers to raise awareness about an act of crime that has affected him and his band closely. A friend of the band, Matt Putnam, lost a ton of expensive and valuable gear when a robber broke into his family home. Putnam has been closely associated with Norma Jean for years, as well as playing percussion for acts such as Eso-Charis, Living Sacrifice, Snailhuntr, Lovedrug, Unwed Sailor, Bear Colony, and Fear Is The Driving Force. Brandan’s statement on the incident reads:

Very recently, a really sad individual broke into the house of my brother and his family and robbed them. A lot of music equipment was taken including a drum set used during very early Norma Jean days.

Besides the kit being taken we lost all our bass gear, Matt’s other drum set, a lot of other miscellaneous equipment and countless personal items.

Some really cool friends of ours put up a place to donate to at LEAST replace Matt’s drums. If you have a couple bucks and want to help him out, here’s the place. Thanks!

According to the YouCaring fundraiser page, fans and friends have already donated over $1,500 of the $5,000 goal. Remarkably, the link has been shared over 500 times since the page’s creation on January 8th of this year. The site is run by friends of Putnam, who assure that all raised funds, even those exceeding the goal, will go towards rebuilding the collection of stolen gear.

If you would like to make a donation, check out the YouCaring fundraiser page, or even just share the link to further raise awareness.