Guitars for Kids

Season's Greetings from Musical Youth Foundation HQ,

I hope that you're happy, healthy and looking forward to a wonderful holiday season! Hard to believe we're on the final countdown to Christmas 2016, it seems like only yesterday we were planning our Summer Guitars for Kids programme.  It's true what they say, time flies when you're having fun. We've been working very hard over the last few months to ensure we can continue to run and indeed expand our Guitars for Kids programmes.

With your invaluable support over the coming weeks we can bring our proven music education classes to even more vulnerable children in Ireland that otherwise wouldn't ever get the chance to benefit from all that music education has to offer.

Your support makes a real and lasting difference, donate now and help us change a young life for the better!

So what did we achieve together in 2016?

It has been a really great year with lots of achievements on our journey to provide every child in Ireland with access to life-changing music education classes. Your donations have meant we were able to provide 259 more children with access to our weekly Guitars for Kids classes. That's 259 children that without your support would never have had the opportunity to pick up a musical instrument. This year we have provided more than 646 hours of professional guitar classes, 1,292 practice session hours and dozens of new and used instruments including; guitars (acoustic, bass & electric), keyboards, electronic drum kits, trumpets, saxophones and violins to our Music Education Partners across Ireland. We've invested over €14,000. ($14,865.) on music education - that's almost 3 times more than we received in donations via GlobalGiving.

With one eye on the future and plans to further expand our education programmes in 2017 we've welcomed many new supporters into our growing family of Music Education Champions including: Ticketmaster, Litton Lane Studios, Universal Music, Tower Records, Celtic Collections and Bank of Ireland to name but a few.

We're also working with a team of dedicated staff from Salesforce Ireland to build an exciting music festival which will raise awareness and vital funds for the Musical Youth Foundation in 2017 and beyond. Stay tuned, we'll be revealing lots more news on this and other exciting projects in Q1 of 2017.

We've also almost completed version 1 of our Music Memory App which is being finalised by our partners at Steadfast Global and hope to release the first working version in the New Year.

Also this year we welcomed 6 new board members to our team, together we're working hard in the background to prepare the Musical Youth Foundation for further growth in 2017. We'll be posting details on our website very soon - just need to organise a little team photoshoot first.

All in all we've a lot to be thankful for as we approach the end of 2016. We really couldn't have achieved anything without your support, so please give yourself a big pat on the back because together we have changed the lives of 259 children, dramatically boosting their confidence and keeping them engaged with the overall education process - ensuring they can achieve a brighter future.

As our young students prepare for the annual Christmas shows in schools and community centres around Ireland we caught up with some of them to ask how they've been getting on. Here's what they had to say;

"I started the classes in January, it was hard and I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to play the guitar and now I'm rehearsing for the Christmas Show. I'll be on stage in front of friends and family in a couple of weeks actually playing the guitar. It is so exciting." - Dean, age 14

"I joined MYF in October (2015) and had no music talent. I'm in a band now, we're writing our own songs and practising every week and at weekends too. I sing and play the guitar. I love it." - Shelly, age 15

"I love the guitar, I never miss a class. I've made new friends and can play Jingle Bells and Silent Night already." - Aidan, age 10

We also welcomed some new teachers into our musical family, here's what they had to say:

"I'm thrilled to be a part of the Musical Youth Foundation. I love their mission and am honoured to be a part of it. Teaching the kids how to play the guitar is so rewarding for me as a teacher. They're so keen to learn, they really appreciate the opportunity they've been given by the MYF. We've got some stars of the future on our hands too I reckon." - Greg, Guitar Teacher

"It's a really super education programme. Watching the young people as they develop is very rewarding for me as a teacher." - Sara, Guitar Teacher & Singing Coach

Great to get such positive feedback from everyone involved with the project. Over the coming weeks our students will be performing a variety of Christmas Shows for friends and family. Stay tuned to us here on GlobalGiving or follow us on Facebook or Twitter to keep up to date with developments. We'll be posting plenty of pics and video snippets so you can see the impact of your support.

As always if you have any questions or queries please don't hesitate to contact me - I'm always available to you our valued supporters.

Peace and good wishes,

Chris