by Jeff Campbell

This week, I am going to begin a musical journey promoting the importance of music education in our schools and Hungry for Music's instrument donation program that supports underserved individuals and communities.

Hungry for Music is partnering with a number of organizations, including the Spirit of Harmony Foundation, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and several high school and college music honor societies, to bring our Magic Music Mission to over 100 cities in 48 states.

I will be connecting with our partners and supporters of our mission, as well as programs and schools that receive our support, and posting daily updates and photos on the Hungry for Music Facebook page. We will also post frequent updates on our News & Events page.

The first 10 cities that Big Bertha, the Magic Music Bus, will be visiting are: Shreveport, Bossier City, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Houston, Montgomery, San Antonio, Austin, Lubbock, and Oklahoma City.

If you would like to support our mission, you can do so here. We appreciate your continued support. It allows us to grow our outreach spreading the gift of music.

Peace and harmony through music,

Jeff

Instrument Donations Since Our February Newsletter:

- 75 instruments to Bill Jenkins World of Music, including a Chinese Moon Lute, African Kora Harp Lute, Ethiopian Masenko, Chinese mouth organ, Turkish Saz, Hawaiian bamboo shaker, Erhu, 14 harmonicas, 10 panpipes, and six tambourines.

- Four classical guitars to Internal Creations in New York, who are opening a new program in Brooklyn. We have supported Internal Creations over the last several years, including almost three dozen classical guitars in 2016.

- Two electronic drum sets (Simmons & Yamaha), a Casio digital keyboard, B.C. Rich electric guitar, Peavey electric bass, Marshall mini amp, PDP 5-piece mini drum kit, a box of cables and electronics (pedals, tuners etc.), power mixer, and two coffin guitar cases, to Rock to the Future in Philadelphia.

- Three acoustic guitars (Ibanez, Yamaha, Fender), two mandolins, and three autoharps to Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM). We made a donation of more than 30 instruments to JAM earlier this year.

- First time donation of Casio 88-key digital keyboard, coronet, trumpet, two 3/4 size cellos, two 1/2 size violins, two acoustic guitars, a 1/4 size violin, and an accordion, to Aulas de Musica & Teatro in Newark, New Jersey.

- Three cellos, a 14" viola, and a 1/4 size violin to St. Luke's Orchestra program (El Sistema) in New York City.

- Three acoustic guitars to Good Harvest Fraternal Group in Newark, New Jersey.

- Individual donations to students in Bullhead City, Arizona; Savannah, Georgia; Renton, Washington; St. Petersburg, Florida; Alameda, California; and New York City.

These donations put total donations in 2017 over 300 instruments. Our goal this year is 1,000 instrument donations.

Hungry for Music distributed more than 700 instruments in 2016. We greatly appreciate the volunteers who help us carry out our mission.

We will be collecting instrument donations on March 25 at Family Pyrate Day in Old Algiers Point.

On Saturday, March 25, the band Twiddle will be performing at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC. At the show, the White Light Foundation will sell commemorative coins to benefit Hungry for Music.

The White Light Foundation is a non-profit organization created by fans of the band Twiddle who, inspired by the band's message, spread the love through charitable service.

We appreciate the White Light Foundation and Twiddle very much! Looking forward to working together!

Above, students at the Benny Moré School for the Arts in Cienfuegos, Cuba, with instruments donated by Hungry for Music, in partnership with Bill Jenkins.

We have been supporting Bill's workshops and concerts for children for many years, including orphanage trips he has made to Nepal, India, China, Guatemala, and Ecuador. His latest excursion was to Cuba, and we donated small percussion instruments, harmonicas, and a few other odds and ends. Keep up the awesome work, Bill!

Congratulations to Boston's Revolution of Hope on their 4th anniversary! Hungry for Music donated string instruments to help them get their program started.

Check out the video from Revolution of Hope's early days.