Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson helps in Haiti

MEDIA, Pa. — Since he picked up a bass guitar and dropped out of 10th grade to hit the road with underground legends The Replacements in 1983, Tommy Stinson has sold millions of records, performed all over the world and secured his place in the rock 'n' roll canon.

As he prepares to embark on a European tour with Guns N' Roses, Stinson, 43, is devoting his time and money to a new passion: helping children left homeless by the Haitian earthquake.

This summer, Stinson will hold an online fundraiser by auctioning personal and donated items that will be posted on his website, including an autographed bass guitar and two of his signature custom-made plaid suits.

"We've got some stuff to auction off that I think will span all three bands I've been in, from Soul Asylum, Replacements, Guns N' Roses," he told The Associated Press during a recent interview at his home and recording studio outside Philadelphia.

"We're just going to try to do our best to raise some money to help in our way, help the kids the best we can."

The mechanics are still being worked out, but the goal is to have it up and running before Stinson leaves for Europe to tour with Guns N' Roses at the end of August.

"It's not just people talking about it that's going to help the earthquake survivors get past this," he said. "It's going to be a lot of years. ... We're just trying to our little share of the work here with what we've got."

After he decided to donate the proceeds of the upcoming auction to charity, a friend suggested Timkatec, a nonprofit founded in 1994 by a Roman Catholic priest to house and educate more than 500 children in the Port-au-Prince area.

"They pay for education and food and supplies for these kids who basically have no families, no life, no nothing, out on the street, as young as 5, 6 years old," he said.

Rather than just writing a check, Stinson wanted to see firsthand where his money would be going and recently traveled to Haiti with the goal of "besides getting financially involved, getting emotionally involved."

In late July, attended a graduation ceremony for 60 young men from Timkatec who earned trade degrees. The school trains destitute boys for work as plumbers, electricians, tailors, shoe makers and construction workers; its sister school trains teenage girls as cooks, hairdressers, seamstresses and child care workers.

"You can see the pride in their faces. You can see the hope. You can see the gratitude," Stinson said a few days after returning from Haiti.