Provide Students at Promise with Instruments

Dear Friends,

Last school year, we asked folks who were concerned for students in economincally distressed families during the pandemic to pitch in and help out. We knew if we could get them scholarship ukes, they could learn to play online from home. Music has a way of getting us through anything, even the pandemic. But to get the medicine of music into their hands, we needed help. You heard the call and made a difference for these students and we are extremely grateful to you.

Here's what happened. Our ukulele sponsor companies were having a hard time getting instruments from China. Their supply chain was broken when factories in China shut down due to COVID-19. So the factories shipped whatever they could, but it was a tiny fraction of what was needed by music stores.Then everything stopped for months on end.

But here in the U.S. everyone wanted to get an instrument to play during lockdown. More people bought guitars and ukes than ever before. There was a run on the stores- and they ran out of instruments. Nothing left over for GITC to receive as a donation.

Then on both of our coasts, the dock workers went on strike for the right to get vaccinated. So whatever had been shipped here on container ships carrying ukuleles could not land.

The problems made it hard for music stores to stay open and many of them went under. The ones who survived got whatever product was eventually available and that meant that rather than receiving donated instruments, we had to buy everything. Our instrument costs rose by over 800%!

Your gifts allowed us to purchase 30 precious instruments for children in families who were barely holding on. With parents out of work or sick, not enough food on the table, and the day to day grind of living on the edge all piling stressors onto these kids, music became a refuge.

You provided that refuge through your gift to this campaign. Thank you for your incredible generosity.

We are looking to a better year. Even though we are still battling COVID and its variants, the schools know what to do. Families have better resources. School districts are receiving new federal support for pandemic recovery for students. Things will improve. And for those children you helped, they are strumming and singing this summer and will be ready in September to share music once more with their teachers and classmates.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart,

Jess

Links:

• Our Website

• Strumming, Learning, Growing, Ukulele Magazine (PDF)