Rush singer and bassist Geddy Lee is much more than one of the most revered progressive rock musicians of all time. He does "grape" things in his spare time, pairing his love of wine with his passion for philanthropy.

The vino enthusiast, 59, serves on the board of directors of Grapes for Humanity Global Foundation, which is a Canadian-originated, now-international charity that has raised over $4 million via wine-related fundraisers. The organization launched in 2001 to support landmine victims, since founder Arlene Willis lost her brother in a landmine accident.

"Arlene had lost her brother due to a landmine accident, and became dedicated to trying to go to countries like Cambodia, Laos and Honduras that had been affected by landmines and help build prosthetic clinics and the people that had fallen through the cracks of their own government welfare," Lee said in a chat with Samaritan Mag.

He elected to become involved since he could roll his sleeves up and get his hands dirty and see the actual results of the efforts. He continued, "I was very drawn to it because we did small projects. If we raised $50,000, we'd go to Honduras, build a clinic, and you saw the direct result of that money in action. And that's something, to me, that makes you feel really good because you know there's no waste there."

Additionally, Lee has hosted 'Excellent Adventures' with Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson on behalf of the organization, where silent auctions are included among wine country excursions.

"We organized these train trips to the wine country," the frontman said. "We get the generous help of a local winery - the first time we did it was in Niagara and Moray Tawse of Tawse Winery offered up his place. We bring people from the city, get a private car through the generous help of VIA Rail, and we take a train up to the winery. We spend the afternoon picking grapes; learning how that particular bit of cultural area operates, and have a fantastic lunch out at the vineyard."



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Rush tour dates:

Sep-7 Manchester, NH Verizon Wireless Arena

Sep-9 Washington, DC Jiffy Lube Live Amphitheater

Sep-11 Pittsburgh, PA CONSOL Energy Center

Sep-13 Indianapolis, IN Bankers Life Fieldhouse

Sep-15 Chicago, IL United Center

Sep-18 Detroit, MI Palace of Auburn Hills

Sep-20 Columbus, OH Nationwide Arena

Sep-22 St. Louis, MO Scottrade Center

Sep-24 Minneapolis, MN Target Center

Sep-26 Winnipeg, MB MTS Centre

Sep-28 Saskatoon, SK Credit Union Centre

Sep-30 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place

Oct-10 Bridgeport, CT Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard

Oct-12 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center

Oct-14 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre

Oct-18 Montreal, QC Bell Centre

Oct-20 Newark, NJ Prudential Center

Oct-22 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center

Oct-24 Boston, MA TD Garden

Oct-26 Buffalo, NY First Niagara Center

Oct-28 Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena

Oct-30 Charlotte, NC Time Warner Cable Arena

*Nov-1 Atlanta, GA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

Nov-3 Tampa, FL 1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheatre

Nov-13 Seattle, WA KeyArena

Nov-15 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion

Nov-17 Anaheim, CA Honda Center

Nov-19 Los Angeles, CA Gibson Amphitheatre

Nov-23 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena

Nov-25 Phoenix, AZ US Airways Center

Nov-28 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center

Nov-30 San Antonio, TX AT&T Center

Dec-2 Houston, TX Toyota Center

*Atlanta tickets through usual outlets, not a Live Nation Event

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