MÖTLEY CRÜE's NIKKI SIXX Launches 'Running Wild In The Night'

MÖTLEY CRÜE founder and bassist Nikki Sixx knows first-hand what it's like to have to fend for yourself on the streets, which is why he has launched "Running Wild in the Night", a fundraising initiative for Covenant House.

Covenant House provides services in 21 cities, 15 in the U.S., to homeless and runaway youth, including advocacy, health care, education, vocational preparation, drug abuse treatment and prevention programs, legal services, recreation, transitional living programs, street and community outreach and aftercare. "I chose to work with Covenant House after a lot of research — I saw what they were doing and it was exactly what I had invisioned for helping at-risk kids — I visited the Los Angeles location and was impressed by the whole operation," said Sixx.

George Lozano, Executive Director of Covenant House California said, "Having someone like Nikki associated with Covenant House is great — he's passionate about what he does, he's passionate about the cause, he can relate to the youth in our program and they can relate to him. He's a great role model for these kids."

"Having experienced life as a runaway myself, I wanted to do something to help kids put in this position through no fault of their own," said Nikki, who admitted that music was perhaps the single most important factor in saving him from that situation. "I want to raise awareness and funds for Covenant House and to create a creative arts program, starting with an emphasis on music, to enable Covenant House to help young people discover and nurture their talents like I did through music"

To that end, Nikki has established "Running Wild in the Night" to raise funds to support Covenant House's work in providing services to nearly 78,000 youth last year. Since being incorporated in New York City in 1972, the agency is supported almost entirely by private contributions.

Sixx will launch "Running Wild in the Night" by auctioning off a custom, personalized Harley Davidson motorcycle online and teaming up with outside manufacturers to donate musical instruments, musical software and computer equipment to Covenant House creative arts programs designed to promote healing and growth for homeless and displaced young people. Sixx is also planning to donate a percentage of proceeds from a recent lawsuit victory with VANS Corporation and a portion of proceeds from his forthcoming book, "Heroin Diaries" (due this fall),which chronicles his struggles drug addiction.

"A lot of kids on the streets are addicted to drugs, I know what it's like, and I know they can help themselves by finding a Covenant House in their area," said Nikki.

"This cause is obviously near and dear to my heart," added Sixx. "And I'm hoping that my efforts will enable even one homeless or runaway kid to achieve what I have in life. Saving the life of one kid who grows up and has a child of his or her own who could be the person who cures cancer or aids there is no way to know how far the reach can go."