Hello my name is Lee Gosnay and I consider myself to be a Freedom Chaser. The freedom chaser means doing what you really want to do with respect for those around you. Just like the title suggests I want to find time to do what I really want to do, in the limited time we have to do it, so I decided to do exactly that!

Early Vision

broad-minded came about in early 2003. I wanted do a music event but something different, which also raised money for a charity. Originally I was going to help three different charities Cancer Research, Homeless people and Huntington's Disease. After listening to a few people I decided to concentrate on the one charity for now, which was Huntington's disease.

This was close to my heart as my mum has the illness and not many people had heard of the illness so I thought the exposure for this charity would be most beneficial at present.

The name broad-minded came about as I had broadened my horizons in recent years both musically and spiritually. As a DJ I have been collecting records for over ten years and playing different styles of music. I wanted an event that played a variety of music whilst promoting new talent whilst supported with the broad-minded web site. I want to do something with no limits, where you can mix dj's/musicians together to create a special vibe.

A trip to Thailand in 2001 made me realize how fortunate we really are, I saw many poor people in the north of Thailand and the country as a whole especially compared to the west world. This country was also one of the richer third world countries so it really made me appreciate and think about people worse of than ourselves.

Charity through Music

Back to early 2003 and I set about organizing a charity event, unfortunately the first event was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstance at the time. The second event was arranged for later that year and bad luck struck again with everyone from the keyboard player, helpers and myself falling ill. So it was third time lucky when my friend and freedom chaser Ben Steventon wanted to do a music night for charity in 2004. This was called flinch @ Charlies in Manchester and we raised £300 for Huntington's Disease in June 2004. The owner of the bar had some family who also had the illness and she was most helpful in raising more monies for the association. We did another Flinch at Charlies in July 2004 but the night struggled this time so it was time for a re-think.

After this event I then decided to do another event but this time called Universal as I wanted to get across the open-mindedness element. The event took place at a secret location in Oct 2004 and was a moderate success with £55 raised for Huntington's Disease. Music wise there was Soul, Funk and Dance music and all had a good night. Every quarter we did another event and each one raised more monies, awareness as more and more people came. Most importantly a word of mouth vibe is being created and the awareness of Huntington's is slowly getting more noticed.

Universal celebrated its first bd on the 29th October and raised £300 for HDA with various DJ's and a scratch DJ. The event was very successful and due to this we have secured an Unltd Award in 2006 to take it to another level. We will be hosting quarterly events in Manchester to help bring communities together whilst raising awareness for a charity and help make talent a success!

Community Awareness & Personal Development

During the last couple of years I have added another important dimension to being a freedom chaser for me, and this is the people and its communities. This is why I see being broad-minded as being ever evolving as we are always learning from ourselves and others.

I began as a volunteer at the Imani centre in Victoria Park in June 2004. The Imani Community Association is a success story of helping people within the inner city of greater Manchester . The centre has a particular emphasis on self discipline, self respect, confidence and positive attitudes to others all areas I was keen on helping with my broad-minded enterprise.

Imani took on a role of mentoring and supporting people who need help and support with problems associated with raising children or being vulnerable as young people. In particular they focus on young people whom have experienced school exclusion or ex-offenders. Others have mental health problems or have drug/alcohol addiction issues.

From this I have learnt the importance of having a centre for the inner city community and how much the Imani Centre contributes to the community. I have seen how the centre benefits many people in just the time I have been helping there, and the amount of support the centre provides on a continually basis. This support affects everyone in the community and has provided a positive knock on effect as a result of this. I feel this centre has a real sense of family values and discipline that is healthy for the community.

Before I helped at the Imani centre I had known the centre provided and supported the community but until you work behind the scenes I don't think you appreciate the amount of work involved and the energy required to run a successful centre.

The work Imani does has taught me a lot about the society we all live in, morals, respect, being confident etc. I have learnt the many difficulties young people are being challenged with and how much love, structure and discipline they are lacking. The work also showed me how much work needs to be done to support these people and that this support needs to be on a continual and consistent basis, with a stronger backbone of resources so more youths can be encouraged to break the cycle of being in trouble or making trouble for themselves. I noticed how when youths are treated like adults they gain your respect and they pay you back that respect, as a result of this.

Whilst working at the Imani centre I have realised the bigger picture of the community and the society in which we live. There are many more needs to cater for and further requirements of which lie ahead. I feel I am even more aware of the many challenges we face in the light of this.

Bigger Picture

All this has helped me become even more broad-minded towards people, situations and circumstances that are constantly changing and happening in our lives. It has also showed me that you can never be too broad-minded and that the community is the face of the world and through music and charity I hope to help make a little difference by supporting people in music and charity and providing awareness to people's lives at the same time.

Be broad-minded, be charitable so you and the community will benefit!