Community And Volunteer This section of my site is for my favorite charitable ventures. I believe that music is all about sharing. Therefore community service is an important part of what I do. If you have a registered charity that would benefit from my composition, performance, or teaching skills, please let me know. I do a lot of volunteer work, and if I have enough advance notice I can schedule even a major or recurring commitment. If we work together well I will gladly add your organization's link to this page. Free Performances If you have a not-for-profit charitable organization and would like background music or entertainment for a fund-raising dinner, a silent auction, or to commemorate the opening of a new facility, please contact me. If you're close by, you can obtain my services for free as long as I can fit it into my schedule and you're within reasonable driving distance. I've done free or low-cost performances throughout Albuquerque and as far away as Tomé. Sometimes I can recruit like-minded individuals to perform as a group. All we've ever asked for is transportation costs and a cold glass of water. Free Use Of Audio Files If you are a registered charity in New Mexico and would like a *.mp3 file with music to enhance your Web site, I offer my work free of charge. |
Photo Credit: Roger Baker, www.ImageInations.com |
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Reduced Cost Guitar Lessons For Children From Low Income Families I am registered as a teacher with the MusicLink Foundation. If your child meets the MusicLink entry criteria, he or she may qualify for reduced cost lessons with me. Click the MusicLink link below for details. Discounts for First Responders Current or retired military, fire fighters, and police officers are eligible for a discount for most of the wedding performance services I offer. See my Wedding Packages page for details. US Navy League, Club 779 The sixth Virginia Class fast-attack nuclear submarine, soon to be commissioned as the USS New Mexico, is scheduled for commissioning in January to February 2010. Club 779 is run by the New Mexico Council of the Navy League as a not-for-profit fund-raising organization that is currently collecting donations for the commissioning ceremony. You can listen to a bunch of us glorify this submarine and the men who serve aboard her here. Modest Needs This little on-line charity was recently featured on CNN. It allows individuals or small charities to post requests for aid. A Modest Needs staff member or volunteer verifies the need and the information. This might be by checking to see that, yes, the electricity is about to be turned off and the amount they need to pay for their child's braces or their own medication is accurate. A lot of the people who are helped by this charity are ordinary people who have fallen on hard times. Some are "too well off" to qualify for government aid. Many have been the victim of crime or an accident. Once need has been established, the Modest Needs staff post the request for aid to their site. You, the prospective donor, can browse and select the person to whom you want to give. You can remain anonymous if you like, and you need not fund the whole request. You can give just a tiny amount. The idea is that tiny amounts add up over time. When a project is fully funded, Modest Needs sends the requestor a check. You can search the requests by amount, by location, and by the reason why people need help. If a particular situation (death in the family, vet bill, sickness, job loss) resonates with you, you can most likely find someone worthy of help. Donors Choose This is another Internet based charity that works a lot like Modest Needs, except the requestors are all teachers who are looking for funding for school projects. Some of the requests are from high need areas and they're not all for fancy high-tech equipment or things that are likely to disappear from the classroom. One teacher was looking for copy paper to print out tests. Another was looking for a replacement light bulb for a projector. Many of the projects in need of funding are arts and music related. Others are for non-sport physical education. Those budgets have been slashed in recent years. As with Modest Needs, staff or volunteers from Donors Choose verify the need and independently check the prices on the products being ordered. You can remain anonymous with this charity as well. The Outpost Performance Space The Outpost Performance Space is a non-profit organization dedicated to jazz and world music. National and international acts are booked there regularly, and the Outpost Space also has a well established education and outreach program that offers music classes for children, families, teens, and adults. The course selection is diverse, varying from African drumming classes for families to youth after-school jazz classes to Flamenco. The adult improvisation class, taught by David Parlato, was my first serious introduction to large ensemble jazz. The evening class runs three times a year, and the newest course offering has been a one-week intensive course in the summer during the day. The building is located at 210 Yale Blvd. just south of Central, and is fully wheelchair accessible. All performances are smoke-free, alcohol-free, and suitable for families and children. The revenue from class fees and donations helps subsidize tuition for the children's classes. Scholarships to Outpost ensemble classes are sometimes available to low-income students. The MusicLink Foundation The MusicLink Foundation is a not-for-profit service that matches children from low-income families with music teachers who offer private or group lessons at a reduced cost. All MusicLink teachers go through a background check. I am registered as a MusicLink teacher and still have openings for a few MusicLink students for studio lessons only. If you are interested in low-cost lessons for children please contact MusicLink. Joy Junction Joy Junction is Albuquerque's largest homeless shelter and the only one that accepts entire families. I've played there and can tell you from experience that the people are wonderful. The program is unusual in that it is not set up simply to house people. The emphasis is on helping people develop job skills and self-sufficiency. The director of Joy Junction, Dr. Jeremy Reynalds, has written an astounding book on the subject. He's uniquely qualified to write about homelessness because he's been homeless himself. Joy Junction receives no government funding. It is technically a religious ministry whose major charitable project is a homeless shelter. Contrary to some criticism I've read, Joy Junction does not turn people away from their shelter for being of the "wrong" religion, race, politics, or sexual orientation. Nor have they ever refused donations or volunteer work from individuals or groups who are obviously trying to help the shelter, provided of course the gift isn't being made with an obvious agenda or as a publicity stunt. While making a donation or doing volunteer work there, I've never once been asked about any aspect of my private life. It's all about helping the homeless. Officer Street Survival Training The Deputy McGrane Foundation was set up in memory of Deputy McGrane, who was shot by a suspected murderer he had stopped for a traffic violation. The foundation provides survival training to police officers.
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