?Sonic Deaf Monkey? gears up for a live performance to collect funds for cancer patients at the Tata Auditorium in Jamshedpur. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, April 24: They hail from different schools, backgrounds and age groups, but have a common goal of helping those who need it most.

In a novel attempt to generate funds for poor cancer patients, a group of students from Sacred Heart Convent School, Loyola and Jamshedpur Public School has organised themselves into a rock-band, ?Sonic Deaf Monkeys?, aiming to muster funds for the ailing through their performances.

In their maiden performance today, ?Hope Floats?, at the XLRI auditorium, the band enthralled the audience with a scintillating performance.

There are eight members in this band who have joined hands in this noble venture. The members are Biresh Kumar (drums), Abhay Surane (guitar), Abhijeet Sarkar (vocalist), Kumar Vickey (drums), Aniket Stephen (guitar) from Jamshedpur Public School, S. Manasi (guitar), Shruthi (vocalist) from Sacred Heart Convent School and Navtez Singh (guitar) representing Loyola School.

?Till now, we all were performing individually, but a common cause has brought us together,? said Navtej Singh, the lead guitarist of the band. He added that the band is looking forward to organising many more fund-raisers for the patients.

He was also hopeful that their initiative would inspire a lot others to lend their helping hand.

S. Manasi, the lead guitarist in the band, is also the mastermind behind the project and said the money collected through their shows will be donated to ?CanCare?, a city-based organisation for the welfare of the cancer patients.

While the band performed at XLRI today, the volunteers in the show moved around with a donation box among the spectators and collected funds. People donated generously and expressed happiness over the welfare project taken up by the students.

Sister Macdella, an activist of CanCare lauded the intiative saying it will not only generate funds for the patients but will also create awareness about cancer in society.