The "We Are iBUG" Project

What is it?

The We Are iBUG Back Story by Kris Eschete, Creator and Producer

The We Are iBUG project is, literally, a dream come true. A fevered dream. The inspiration for this song came from the iBUG’s Got Talent Show of August 2025. The creativity exhibited by the participants stoked the fires of my imagination as I thought about a possible entry for next year’s event.

We Are iBUG as a version of the We Are the World song came to me, and I originally thought of customizing the lyrics for iBUG, doing it solo, but it seemed a better version would be to frame it as a collaborative effort. In the spirit of the 1985 song. A coming together of hearts and voices in a show of solidarity for a common cause.

After consulting with the iBUG management team in February 2026, a roster of possible participants was created based upon individuals with a high degree of involvement and support of iBUG’s mission. Each person was contacted, and when all the responses were in, parts of the song were assigned.

There was a kick-off meeting on March 8, 2026, where the project was explained to the iBUG members who expressed their willingness to participate. This gave us about a month to distribute the song material as lyrics and audio files, and to meet with everyone to go over their parts, in small groups, as dictated by the song structure - similar, but not identical to, the original song.

So, by April 1st, all the vocal tracks had been submitted, and Pete Lane, the post-production editor, was busy editing the files as they came in to ensure sound quality, timing accuracies, adjustments for syncing, and other audio considerations.

We had a lot of fun in these meet-up sessions. Everyone’s enthusiasm and energy made it such a joyful experience. After about another 4 to 6 weeks of post-production editing of the tracks and adding a few background harmonies, the main track was done.

There were 2 additional components - a final chorus section as a choir, and a coda original piece at the end. The chorus choir was the main chorus lyrics, but split melodically into 4 parts sung by 4 people all together. Julie Sparrow and Dat Nguyen used software to create the choir affect from the combined tracks. The ending coda was the same 4 people, with Dat Nguyen graciously agreeing to create and perform the beautiful guitar accompaniment for it. 

This project would not have been possible without the generosity and cooperation of so many people to give of their time and talents and the courage to take a leap of faith to create something that transcends our one voice singing in the darkness.

A beacon of hope, lighting the way. iBUG Today.

Stronger together. We Are iBUG!

The Players

Kris Eschete, Creator and Producer

Pete Lane, Post-Production, Editor

Sandhya Rao & Michael McCulloch, Executive Producers

The We Are iBUG Singers, comprised of 28 iBUG Today members, are listed below in order of appearance.

Kris Eschete

Kris Eschete & Pete Lane 
Dana Metcalf
Janice Samuels
Pete Lane
Terry Ann Saurmann
Sandhya Rao
Michael McCulloch 
Herbie Allen
Pat McPherson
George Batiste
Greg Rhodes
Randy Builder
Brad Snyder
Kenny Norton
Arlene Novels
Kris Eschete

Shahzadi Sarvat Khan
Dat Nguyen
Christina Covington
Christina Covington & Dat Nguyen

Helene Aptekar
Sarah Potok
Deb Brummer
Sree Roy
Ned Vanders
Valencia Moody
Stephen Kerr
Wes Ferrell

Finale Chorus: Valencia, Pete, Dat, Kris, Terry, Julie Sparrow, and Harshid Trivedi

Coda: Kris, Pete, and Valencia with Dat's guitar accompaniment.

Additionally, we'd like to recognize Pete Lane, Dat Nguyen, Valencia Moody, Terry Ann Saurmann, and Julie Sparrow. Your above and beyond contributions  enhanced this project in more ways than we can count, including, but not limited to:

Pete, for his editing extraordinaire, who literally put it all together, masterfully.

Dat, for creating and performing the beautiful guitar accompaniment for the end of the song.

Julie, for providing Zoom room resources and for audio affects.

And Valencia and Terry, for generously agreeing to provide additional vocals for the choir and coda song sections.

Lastly, we acknowledge the amazingly talented Kris Eschete, the creator and producer of this project. First, for dreaming up the idea of the project in that genius (although some may say, a bit twisted) mind of hers. And rewriting the lyrics to the song, We Are the World, to pay tribute to the iBUG family.

Then, for her gathering all the participants and holding rehearsals. And for orchestrating the sequence and all of the vocal contributions, and the vocal harmonies from the additional voices. Late in the production process, she composed the finale chorus with all of the voices together, and the coda, with the beautiful guitar accompaniment.

Kris, thank you, thank you, thank you!

This was truly a collaborative effort. Teamwork makes the dream work. Creating brighter days, we all are living.

From the bottom of our hearts.

With love, hooray, iBUG Today!

iBUG Today, iBUG Tomorrow, iBUG Forever!

iBUG 15th Anniversary Celebration

The We Are iBUG Project was revealed at the iBUG 15th Anniversary Celebration on May 23, 2026. To listen to the Celebration in its entirety, go to Apple Workshop #174, May 23, 2026. The player link below is the recording of the We Are iBUG song that was presented during the iBUG 15th Anniversary Celebration.