I have been following this website since I first bought a mandolin back in 2007. I made a few posts (under another user name) but otherwise have always been a lurker. Today I realized why this place is so awesome. A little over a month ago I mentioned my charity I am building on another thread, and a mandolin cafe member contacted me. Well not only did I get to meet an intelligent and kind person this morning, I also received many donations from Jim Garber. Of course many of you regulars know him or of him. Any new members will eventually know of him as he has an amazing post count. For someone like me who has been following the Cafe for awhile... it was like meeting a celebrity! He donated many instruments to my cause.
Now 'my cause'... I live in North NJ and am working on building a charity to promote music. Whether it is instrument donation, free lessons (especially for songwriting and music theory), consultation, repairs, or anything musical related. I want to be a music store and lesson studio all in one, for those who cannot afford to play or perhaps think they are not good enough. I have always had a knack for playing and repairing almost any instrument. I also have a great ability to 'teach'. The job of a good teacher isn't to know everything... but to be able to point the student in the right direction or to help them figure out what they want to know. I am not an expert luthier or instrument repair tech, however I learn very quickly. This charity idea was officially started in January. I am in the process of working on fiscal sponsorship (non profit status takes time) so I can do a kickstarter page to build a small monetary base up to help my cause. However in the meantime, I could use any help at all. What kind of help am I looking for? There is a link to my fb page at the end of my post... even a simple 'like' will help. I could also use any repair kits, supplies, strings... anything musical related. For those who live in the tri-state are (NJ, NY, PA) I could also really use any instrument donations (I like road trips!). Even broken stuff can be used for parts. For example today Jim gave me many bowlback mando's in various condition. Some I will repair and find good homes for, other parts I will use to build new homemade instruments, perhaps if I find a student who wants to learn to build their own. (like a cookie tin banjo I posted on the fb page). To be clear I am not getting rich off this idea, or making any money... I still have to work my full-time crappy job (of course I know some people may be looking for work, so I don't mean to complain) . I am even putting my own money into this charity. I call it "Institute of Sound." Yeah that name denotes something big... that's because it will be one day. I hope to use the connectivity of our modern world to build a fund base that will allow me to provide musical services to school bands, community groups, and individuals. Music is what I do best, all aspects of it. I firmly believe that our cynical world that seems to get more violent everyday, needs it's people to start helping each other in anyway they can. If I can put an instrument into the hands of someone who perhaps didn't have the means, and show them how to make some music... well maybe step by step and bit by bit, there might be some more satisfied folks among us. As I said in a community forum when I started this charity... "help me spread some music." Any questions please msg me on here or on my fb page... I will try to keep up with any comments on this post (just very busy at moment!). Thank You
https://www.facebook.com/InstituteofSound?fref=ts
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