Music for HOPE, an acronym for Helping Other People Everywhere, is a nonprofit organization that will help those who are interested in playing a musical instrument, but that do not have the funds to do so, obtain the instrument of their choosing.
The idea for Music for HOPE was developed in Las Vegas by Mike Jones in 1994. “I ran into the same problem when I was in school with the music program and not having an instrument,” said Jones. Although the operation’s headquarters has been moved to Charlottesville, the Las Vegas business is still in full effect
The money is raised through donations and small fundraisers. The funds go toward cleaning up instruments and refurbishing them as well as providing cleaning kits and reeds for the various instruments.
“People go through their closets and find old instruments that they used to play in middle school or high school and send them to us so that we can clean them up and give them to someone who wants to play in the school band,” said Jones. The kids who receive the instruments are ones who are brought to the program’s attention by the school. “The school contacts us and lets us know that there is someone who would benefit from Music for HOPE, and we do what we can to help them out.”
Up until the recently, 98 percent of the funding has come from the pocket of Mike Jones. “The program was discontinued for a couple of years because I ran out of money to fund it, but now we are back, and since 1997 we have helped over 200 kids and school programs.”
Music for HOPE is currently entered in a contest called the Pepsi Refresh Project. All you have to do is tell all your friends to vote, and Music for HOPE could win $50,000 to go toward their organization.
The money would help with advertising, instrument repairs/parts, purchasing additional instruments, etc.
If you want to help out this great organization please visit: http://www.refresheverything.com/musicforhope.
Story by Jenny Hypes. Jenny can be reached at [email protected].
Keywords: charlottesville virginia
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