Aerosmith Singer Steven Tyler Just Opened a Home for Abused Girls
‘This does my heart and my soul good'
Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler is a musical giant, but his greatest impact on the world is the altruistic work he does for abused and neglected girls through his charity Janie's Fund.
On February 4, Tyler opened the second home for abused girls, called Janie’s House. The 39,000 square foot home is located in Bartlett, Tennessee – just outside of Memphis – and was launched with a ribbon cutting in the style of Tyler - the ribbon was actually one of his signature scarves.
“This does my heart and my soul good. This is real - to help even just one girl through Janie’s House is a dream come true… just when the world feels over, you can turn into a butterfly.”
The girl's homes and Janie's Fund, which supports them, were named after Aerosmith’s 1989 song “Janie’s Got a Gun,” which is about a girl who is being abused by her family and her revenge against them.
Tyler created the fund in 2015 to make sure that girls will receive the most effective services available to help them overcome the trauma of abuse.
Janie's House has enough room to house 14 girls ages 12 to 18 at a time for girls and is expected to provide 24-hour medical care and therapeutic support as part of the services provided for up to 30 girls a year.
The house located on the 82-acre Youth Villages campus has an outdoor living space and overlooks a scenic lake. Tyler personally chose the murals and inspirational quotes that adorn the walls of the new girl's facility.
Janie's Fund donated almost $500,000 to the project. The fund raises money to support this home as well as the first Janie's House that opened in Atlanta, Georgia in 2017.
“We wouldn’t be here at all if it wasn’t for Steven and his dream of Janie’s Fund,” said Youth Villages CEO Patrick Lawler at the scarf-cutting.
Girls who have been helped by the first Janie's House were also at the ceremony. "Through Janie's House, I can learn a lot about my past and learn I was not the only one that had been through the same problems," one of the girls told CBS News.
Steven Tyler is speaking prior to a scarf cutting for a Youth Villages facility in Bartlett. @3onyourside pic.twitter.com/DdWDHcS3OC
— Ian Ripple (@Ripple1026) February 4, 2019
Tyler who is now 70 has a lot of empathy for the abused girls because of his experiences in rehab. “While I was there, all the girls I met had been abused either physically, mentally, or verbally, or at least 90 percent of them all,” he told CBS. "So when I got out of there, I laid it all on Janie. I said, what are you going to do?" Janie's Fund and the houses for abused girls was the result.
To date, Janie's Fund has raised over $4 million and a third location will open in Las Vegas later this year. There was just a Janie's Fund Grammy Awards viewing party fundraiser on February 10 that featured a performance by Aerosmith and master mentalist Lior Suchard that raised a substantial sum of money.
At the ceremony, Tyler said, "I'm gonna bring this Janie's Fund with me wherever I go." His impact on the lives of young abuse victims will keep growing and growing just like his music.
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