Music lover donating 4,000 CDs to hospital

In an effort to reduce clutter in his own home, music consultant Brian Thompson is donating thousands of CDs to Vancouver General Hospital's music therapy program.

When Thompson looked around his Kitsilano home, he said he felt defined by his 4,000 CDs, and he quickly began to resent it.

"They were literally collecting dust," said Thompson in an interview with CBC Radio's Matthew Lazin-Ryder.

Instead of trying to sell the CDs or throw them out, like he did when he moved eight years ago, Thompson didn't want to profit from his collection.

"I just wanted to find them a real home where they could actually benefit somebody," he said.

Thompson soon found a place for the CDs after speaking with his friend Chris Brandt, who is also the executive director of Music Heals Canada, a not-for-profit organization that funds increased access to music therapy for a wide range of patients.

"I reached out to the music therapy community, and the only rule was you have to take all of them, I don't want to splinter these [CDs] up, " said Brandt.

A music therapist working in Vancouver General Hospital's burn unit responded to Brandt's call, and Brandt says the collection will also be shared by the hospital's palliative care unit.

Thompson's CDs will be picked up Tuesday at 10 a.m. PT.

On the Coast is on the air every weekday from 3 p.m. PT to 6 p.m. on CBC Radio One, 88.1FM/690AM.