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Winter Hungry for Music Notes
February 2024 |
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We have been busy at Hungry for Music, delivering instruments from coast to coast and preparing our inventory for this year’s request periods. The dates for 2024 are listed on our website and at the end of this newsletter.
With the recent monumental donation from Rayburn Music, we have A LOT of instruments to assess and potentially repair. Thankfully, a majority of the instruments are in excellent condition, but many will need some work, keeping our repair folks busy!
With the magical increase in our inventory, Hungry for Music looks forward to substantially increasing our annual music instrument donation numbers for 2024.
Last year, we distributed 2,172 and our goal this year is to gift 5,000 instruments to individuals, schools, and after-school programs.
Hungry for Music is grateful for your continued support. Please consider sharing news of our outreach with your friends, family, and colleagues.
May you always find comfort in music,
Jeff Campbell
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2023 Hungry for Music Instrument Distribution Breakdown
Total # of musical instruments distributed: 2,172
Total # of programs: 184
Schools: 115
After-school: 42
Social workers: 27
Total # of states: 42
Total # of international donations: 4 (Haiti, India, Kenya, Uganda)
The 2,172 music Instruments included (not all listed):
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318 violins
113 steel string acoustic guitars
58 trumpets
57 electric guitars
44 percussion kits
44 electronic keyboards
44 trombones
44 flutes
37 nylon classical guitars
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34 drum sets
30 clarinets
32 cellos
18 French horns
16 electric bass
13 electronic drum set
10 upright basses
7 banjos
7 mandolins
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Thank you to HFM Operations Manager, Cassie Clark, for crunching the numbers with the help of our inventory software. |
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Hungry for Music in Action
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During the holiday season, Hungry for Music delivered instruments from coast to coast, and also picked up quite a few.
Just a few of the deliveries are represented in photographs below.
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A delivery to Young Musicians Foundation's new space in Los Angeles. Brass, woodwinds, and strings! |
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A delivery of percussion kits to River City Drum Corps in Louisville. |
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Erskin Mitchell, founder & director of Successful, Inc. in Memphis with brass instruments donated by Hungry for Music. |
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Roger Anderson, a Phoenix-area music teacher that we've been delivering instruments to for more than 10 years. He also had some instruments for us! |
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An upright bass for Homer Plessy Community School in New Orleans, one of our first donations of 2024. |
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Delivered many of luthier Barry Kemp’s guitars to BandAid Music School in Austin. |
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Last year, a woman in New York reached out to Hungry for Music to see if we would be interested in her late sister’s two violins, viola, and three bows. Her sister played in the New York City Ballet Orchestra. Over the years, Hungry for Music has been gifted with a number of quality instruments that would be more appropriate for advanced students.
After receiving this generous gift, we reached out to the D’Addario Foundation to put the word out to their network that we had a violin valued at $10,000.00 that would be appropriate for an advanced student who was going to pursue music education and/or music performance in college.
D’Addario took in four nominations from Maryland, New York, Wisconsin, and Arizona and the sister, Pam Stevens, picked the winning recipient. The students who were not selected for the grand prize each received a consolation prize of a European violin valued at $2,500 - $5,000.
All four violins have been delivered and we have already heard from the Harmony Project Phoenix. See below. We greatly appreciate the D’Addario Foundation’s help in finding homes for these quality violins.
Thank you to luthier Ben Miller for setting them all up with D’Addario strings.
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Jazmine, with Harmony Project Phoenix, was one of four recipients of an advanced violin. She is pictured with Diogo Pereira, Executive Director, Harmony Project Phoenix.
We will have video and photos of other recipients in the next newsletter.
“The violin is amazing! Really high quality. She is currently getting ready to do her college auditions, majoring in Music Education. This violin will be a game-changer for her.”
- Diogo Pereira |
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Ram Bonthala is from Dallas, Texas. He's currently a rising junior at Liberty High School and a volunteer for his local branch of VT SEVA, which has many projects, including running tribal schools in India. Ram recently had the opportunity to go to India for an internship, where he had one-on-one interactions with the big projects that VT SEVA is conducting.
Ram explains, “When we went to the tribal school, we got to teach the students there various different subjects that they were interested in. One of these subjects was the violin. Using just five donated violins, we were able to teach about 40 different students in just two days how to play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".
Their enthusiasm and fervor to learn were so intense and were evident through how quickly they were able to learn things that would normally take months to learn. However, we wouldn't be able to stay forever to teach them how to play the violin as much as we would love to. The students there have immense potential, but they don't have the resources to get better and unlock their potential.”
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Ram was inspired to help these kids and found Hungry for Music in a google search.
“Your organization is a perfect match for our cause, as you serve as the key to unlocking the children's potential to truly excel at what they are interested in.”
Ram requested 20 violins for the tribal school. Today, Hungry for Music delivered them, along with 20 sets of strings provided by the D’Addario Foundation.
Ram is pictured with the violins.
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Recycling Worn Out Instruments |
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It is so nice to have a place to take instruments that are no longer playable or worth repairing. Materials for the Arts in NYC will take them and find artists who will create a piece of art and allow its spirit to live on. It’s kind of a retirement home for old instruments. 🙂 Better than a landfill!
Materials for Arts Website
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This beautiful guitar from Belltone Guitars is being raffled to support Hungry for Music’s instrument donation program.
Thank you, Belltone Guitars!
Enter to win here.
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Eric Jungemann worked in the tech industry in California for many years until he recently retired to Montana. For at least 15 years, Eric has been annually donating left-handed Taylor guitars to Hungry for Music, suggesting we sell them to support the cost of our mission.
The value of the guitars that Eric has donated totals almost $20,000 over the years. His support has been invaluable in helping Hungry for Music with the cost of repairs and distribution. Thank you, Eric, enjoy your retirement!
In photo: Eric with his daughter, Diana, and two grandchildren.
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Hungry for Music loves luthier Barry Kemp from Los Molinos, CA! Barry buys guitars that need a little work and gets them into great shape for donating, adding his own special touch.
A couple of years ago, Barry donated nearly 40 guitars to HFM’s instrument donation program that went to Guitars and Ukes in the Classroom! He recently donated another 20 guitars that went to programs in Austin and New Orleans. You are awesome, Barry!
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Shhh! at the Sugar Cube Cafe is a new kids musical to benefit Hungry for Music. It's available for purchase from Musicals for Change, an organization that produces student musicals with a mission.
They are donating 10% of each sale to Hungry for Music. You can preview and purchase the show on the Musicals for Change website or from J.W. Pepper. |
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2024 Instrument Request Application Dates
Title One School Music Teachers
August 5 – October 18
After-School & Summer Programs
March 11 – June 11 (
Requires a site visit)
Social Workers & School Counselors
Open all year
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Hungry for Music T-Shirts!
You can support Hungry for Music by purchasing a T-shirt from our store.
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Since becoming a non-profit 29 years ago, Hungry for Music has brought the healing quality of music to more than 20,000 children in 50 states and 32 countries through its musical instrument donation program. We appreciate everyone who has helped us along the way and could not fulfill our mission without the generosity of others.
If you are able, please donate funds, buy a t-shirt from our online store, or visit our website to find out about other ways you can support Hungry for Music. |
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Miss a recent newsletter? Click the link to view past issues. |
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