Total Instruments Delivered
By the end of February 2025, Music4Life has delivered this fiscal year 104 full-size and ready-to-play musical instruments, plus 1,100 recorders intended for fourth graders, all valued at $49,465, to our 15 participating public school districts. Repair shops continued to suffer backlogs due mainly to the lack of qualified repair technicians. All instrument values are after repairs have been completed and are estimated by our independent third-party vendor-experts.
Intended for use by the students of income-qualified families, each instrument is a “loaner” that must be returned when the student leaves the school district (due to graduation, family moves to another school district, etc.) so another student of a family in-need can benefit from its use.
Cohn Joins Governing Board
New to the Music4Life Governing Board is Dr. Gary Cohn, 2017 Washington State Superintendent of the Year as Superintendent of the Everett School District. Gary is a twice-over advocate of Music4Life, having started our efforts for Everett P.S. and, after retirement, introducing us to the Lake Washington School District as President of the Kirkland Rotary Club. He’s already had a substantial impact on us by introducing us to several superintendents and taking the lead on a review of our five-year plan.
Monroe Becomes Our 15th Chapter
We’re in-process of announcing our 15th chapter for the Monroe School District. Superintendent Shawn Woodward has endorsed Music4Life’s work which has provided financial support. He attended our presentation to the Monroe Kiwanis Club, which has already provided start-up financial support for both the new Monroe and Sultan programs. The Monroe Chapter team is being developed and welcomes anyone who shares our values of “kids,” “instrumental music” or “education.” A list of all participating school district programs appears on our website.
Piano Tuning Program Continues
Our new program to tune pianos in our participating public school districts continues under that able leadership of Music4Life Governing Board member Dean Petrich. Our goal is to tune as many as 200 pianos this year among the school districts telling us last spring of their need. (One music teacher told us some of these pianos haven’t been tuned in years!) And to do it annually thereafter. Many thanks to Dean for helping us “invent this wheel.”
City of Auburn Provides Financial Support
The City of Auburn’s Arts Department is an example of a public entity that provides financial support for our work. Its funds are limited, of course, to benefit the students attending the Auburn School District. Auburn has a long history of supporting youth music programs, dating back to funding to send the Auburn Black Watch Drum & Bugle Corps to the 1977 inauguration of President Jimmy Carter. Many thanks to Auburn!
Why We Use TWO Metrics to Measure Success
Music4Life rewards participating Chapters for their relative financial success. This is important because funding is needed to pay our instrument vendors so they can pay their employees. Fairness among Chapters is our goal. To help achieve that fairness we use two metrics:
- The number of instruments delivered; and
- The “fair market value” of those instruments.
For instance, a piccolo and a piano each count as one musical instrument, but their worth is vastly different. The main purpose of this policy is to reward each Chapter team for their success in raising funds so we can pay vendors for their repairs. Some would call this policy “fairness.”
Gifts In Honor of…
The following donations either to Music4Life or to one of our 15 Chapters have been deposited:
- $14,627 by the Des Moines / Normandy Park Rotary Club
- $5,000 by the Highline Schools Foundation
- $5,000 by the Raynier Institute & Foundation
- $2,000 by the Eastside Music Festival Foundation
- $2,000 by the City of Auburn
- $1,000 by the Everett-Port Gardner Rotary Club
- $1,000 by the Kirkland Rotary Club
Looking for Governing Board Members
Music4Life seeks volunteer Governing Board members. Those who share our values of “kids,” “instrumental music” or “education" are welcome to apply. We particularly seek those with marketing, development (fund raising) or finance expertise. Also welcome are those who are interested in service on one of our 14 local Chapter teams. If one of these describes you, just contact us at David@Music4Life.org.
