| Replacing Kids’ Music Instruments Lost to Hurricane Ike |
| Written by Bryan Smith | |
 Galveston’s music education program was devastated by Ike; Austin can help. If there is one thing the citizens of Austin love, it's lending a hand for a good cause, and the time has come once again for us to get involved. From 10am-8pm on Wednesday, December 10, The Recording Academy's Texas Chapter will hold the last leg of its Grammy Giving Back to the Gulf drive. Sponsored by Gibson Guitars, this drive aims to replace the musical instruments lost by Galveston's Central Middle School in the wake of Hurricane Ike. "When it helps kids, getting involved is almost a no-brainer," said Theresa Jenkins, Executive Director of the Texas Chapter. "We had never really done much in the Galveston area and we thought that by replacing those instruments lost, we could aid in the healing process as well as groom our music community of tomorrow." The statewide drive began on November 11 with a red-carpet celebration for the Latin Grammys held at Houston's House of Blues. All the proceeds collected at that event were donated to the relief efforts. Instrument collection drives were also successfully staged in Dallas and San Antonio. Jenkins reported that one Dallas school district donated eight tubas, and countless other items were collected at the San Antonio drive, but there is still a long way to go. Many more instruments as well as monetary donations are needed to replace even a fraction of what was lost in the disaster that ravaged the city of Galveston on September 12th, 2008. "A child cannot really learn to play the trumpet without a trumpet," said Dr. Stephen F. Duncan, the director of fine arts for the Galveston Independent School District. "Ike destroyed nearly half a million dollars-worth of the Galveston ISD's inventory of musical instruments. We lost baby grand pianos, band instruments, and strings as well as our music libraries at Central Middle School." The Austin drive is expected to be the largest of the three, fittingly so in the Live Music Capital of the World. So Austinites, here’s our chance to spread our love of music. Let's round up a marching band's worth of instruments to present to the school children of Galveston.  Instrument donation in San Antonio The fruits of the donation drive will be delivered on January 15, 2009, with the arrival of the Gibson tour bus at Galveston's Central Middle School campus, where the students will welcome their guests with a pep rally. The instruments and funds collected from all the drives will be presented at this time. Jenkins also mentioned that she is working on lining up a special musical guest to entertain the students. |
Login Form
Austin Area Directory - add your business
| Business 2 Business (22) |
| List your Business for FREE! (712) |