Since May of 2011, the tattoo shop Modern Electric has been doing a whole lot more than giving thrill seekers and art lovers a piece they’ll always remember. Modern Electric has taken part in many fundraisers, and events have been orchestrated and executed by this shop and its associates to give back to the community.

“Our first event was for breast cancer,” says Amy Daley, co-owner of Modern electric and wife to other co-owner Billy Vaughn. “We sold $20 and $40 dollar ribbons and donated half the proceeds.

“Then in December we held a big art show at the Marriott and there was 65 or 70 paintings, all original with frames, donated by all kinds of artists from all over the country,” she said.

In addition to the breast cancer fundraiser and art show, the crew over at Modern Electric also teamed up with the Alliance Against Family Violence for the holiday season.

“We did really well. I can’t remember exactly how much was raised but we ended up buying Christmas presents for the Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault,” she said about the success of the event.

“We also teamed up with Icon Printing; they donated all the banners and posters and flyers. We also had a private donor that donated all the frames for the art show.

“We had a big elegant party. We got to dress up and people came from L.A., Fresno, the guys from Papa Roach came, it was really cool,” she said. The amount raised from the event was about $950.

The group enjoys being involved in the charity work they do.

“This is our community. You’ve got to help out if you have and others don’t,” said Daley. “You may have what you have but you should always give back to the community.”

Chris Earl, artist and well-known tattooist for M.E. added, “It feels really good. We’ve done about four events, one at Pain is Beauty [tattoo shop], two here at M.E. and once at the Marriott.”

On Jan. 21 the M.E. staff donated gift certificates that accumulated to the sum of $125 to the Giving Tree charity.

The certificates were for three $60 tattoos, two $30 haircuts and or shave in the barbershop and three piercings.

The folks over at M.E have a long list of events that show their involvement with the community.

“In October we did the Via Arte in the Market Place for Walker Lewis Rents. In November we did the Bakersfield Scene coat drive and at the Metro Gallery a few of our artists donated their time for the event to stop human trafficking,” she said. “Our artists sat and drew on shoes that were purchased at the event for tips only.

“We always do our best to help out, especially in the downtown district. It’s good for business because people who haven’t heard of us win in the contests we hold and they get to see the shop and what we are all about, besides being charitable,” she said.

Daley said there are more events planned for the future.

“We are going to be working with Dennis and the guys from Front Porch Music in their ‘Boards for Snots’ charity.

“What they do is buy skateboards for kids and what we would like to do is paint the boards and then have another art show, sell the artistic boards and then take the proceeds and buy a bunch of skateboards for kids. We do want to do the event with the Alliance against Family Violence again next December.”

Daley hopes to continue M.E.’s involvement with charity by making it an annual event.