Total Instruments Delivered
Music4Life has delivered 162 ready-to-play musical instruments valued at $46,677 to its 11 participating public school districts since Sept. 1, 2021. All instrument values are estimated by our independent third-party vendor-experts. Intended for use by the students of income-qualified families, each instrument must be returned when the student leaves the school district (graduation, family moves to another school district, etc.) so another student can benefit from its use.

Largest Donation Ever Received
Music4Life recently received its largest single financial donation ever. The $20,000 donation was from an anonymous source and to be used wherever there's the greatest need. Accordingly, the donation is assigned for use by all eleven public school district-based Chapters based on the relative financial productivity of each of their Chapter teams. If you are this donor, please accept our abundant thanks for helping to provide the life-long educational benefits of instrumental music to students who might not otherwise receive them.

Ukuleles to Everett Students
Kids playing ukuleles Our thanks also to the Kazuo & Mary Yamane Family Foundation for providing 64 new Kala tenor ukuleles to our Everett program. Shown here are students in Daniel Powers' Lowell Elementary School, one of four Everett schools that got ukuleles, starting on their life-long journey of instrumental music. Ukuleles are just one of several musical instruments (others that have been provided by Music4Life are recorders and harmonicas) used by beginner students. This is the second donation of ukuleles by the Yamane Family Foundation, the first set of 60 having gone last August to Highline Public Schools. Our thanks to the Yamane Family Foundation!

Why No Dollar Value for Donated Instruments
Music4Life receives hundreds of donated musical instruments each year from people who have them in their garages, attics or closets. Rather than still sitting there unused, donors often realize that their highest and best use is to put them back into play. We're grateful for every single donated instrument! Putting a dollar value on them is a complicated, highly regulated legal process that even most of our vendor-repair shops are not qualified to do. When requested, what we do instead is to provide detailed information about the musical instrument donated, right down to citing the serial number. This gives the donor information they'll need to defend the value of their donation to the IRS.

Kent Program Announces Summer Fund Raiser
The Kent Music4Life Chapter is planning an event for Sunday afternoon, July 21st. Details are still in-process. But Chapter President Allyson Johnson says the hope to feature prominent jazz saxophonist and local luminary Darren Motamedy. Join us!

Grant from Everett Cultural Arts Commission
City of Everett Logo Jane Webber, President of the Everett Music4Life Chapter, tells us the Cultural Arts Commission of the City of Everett has approved $2,000 for our Everett Program. Established in 1974, the Everett Cultural Arts Commission is a citizen advisory board composed of 11 volunteers (plus alternates) appointed by the mayor and City Council. Commission members include artists, arts professionals and citizens with strong links to Everett's arts community. Aaron Alonzo, Production Manager for KIDSTAGE/Village Theatre, serves as Commission Chair. The funds will be used exclusively to benefit students attending Everett Public Schools by funding repairs to donated instruments that are provided to the school district for students to play.

Backlog at Repair Shops Continues
Music4Life has approved the repair of a large number of musical instruments, all done at local instrument repair shops. We like the work to benefit as many local retailers as possible. Included are Kennelly Keys Music, hq'd in Lynnwood; Ted Brown Music, hq'd in Tacoma and numerous others. One of the unfortunate effects of the ongoing pandemic is that repair shops have had a hard time finding qualified repair technicians to fill vacancies caused by temporary store closures last year. You can't expect a dentist or auto mechanic to repair a used musical instrument. We soldier on!

Outreach to the Students of Families In-Need
Musical instruments are provided to the students of families in-need, especially the youngest students. Family income information is very privileged, of course. One way of demonstrating "need" is participation in school free-and-reduced-lunch programs. There may very well be others. The lack of in-person meetings only adds to the problem. Please let us know if you have an idea that can help reach families in-need. While we can’t promise a ready-to-play musical instrument to every child who needs one, we surely do want to do the best we can.

Instruments Are On-Loan to Students
The basic idea of Music4Life is that instruments are provided on a long-term loan basis to public school districts, who in turn lend them to students in-need. The students do not own the instruments. They may use them for any in- or out-of-school musical activity as long as they're enrolled in the school district. If they leave for any reason (graduation, parents move out of the district, etc.), the instruments must be returned to the school district so another student in-need can benefit from its use. Over the course of its remaining life, this means two, three, five other students ultimately may from the use of a single instrument. It's MAGIC!! :-)