The South Brunswick Schools Instrument Bank

Six years ago, when my older daughter finished sixth grade, she decided she was done playing the drums.  So without thinking, I dropped her snare drum -- the one I'd "rented to own" -- and gave it to the music teacher at her old elementary school.  Throughout the rest of that school year, that music teacher told me every time I was in the hallways how she'd given the drum to a needy student who'd wanted to play but didn't have the money to rent or buy one.

That got me to thinking -- Greenbrook couldn't be the only school with needy students who wanted to play an instrument but whose families couldn't afford one.  So by the end of the year, I started the South Brunswick Schools' Instrument Bank. That was five years ago.

The South Brunswick Schools' Instrument Bank serves the elementary school aged students in our district who want to play an instrument in our school's award-winning music program but whose families can't afford the cost of a rental or purchase of an instrument.

In the past, when a needy student came to a music teacher, he would get an instrument from the school's small staple of instruments -- he could only pick from what they had, which often wasn't his first choice -- and he had to return it at the end of the school year, which meant he couldn't play it over the summer. When he moved into the middle school, the instrument had to stay at his elementary school -- and he would have to hope that his middle school had another one he could borrow.

With the advent of the Instrument Bank, some of these problems are taken care of.  I collect instruments from families in South Brunswick who were fortunate enough to be able to afford to buy an instrument when their elementary-school aged child wanted to play and whose children had since moved onto other interests and no longer play at all.  These families contact me, telling me they have an instrument, and I pick it up at their convenience.

I store the instruments in my home until they are needed, but often they go out within the same week or the following week to needy students across the district.  I have given away probably between fifty and seventy five instruments in the last five years across every elementary school in this district.

Once every week or two, I send an email to the elementary school music teachers listing the instruments the bank currently has and asking if anyone needs anything.  Then I bring the requested instruments to those elementary schools and drop them off.  I never meet, nor do I know personally, any of the families involved. Their privacy is protected because they are required to request the instrument from the music teacher, and the teacher is the one who determines whether the instrument is truly needed. Students then keep that instrument as long as they play -- into middle school, high school, and beyond.

I've heard such positive, warm stories from music teachers telling me how much of a difference these instruments have made in their students' lives.  And it's such a simple thing to do.  Please consider donating your no longer wanted/needed instruments so they can continue to be used and enjoyed.

The South Brunswick Schools' Instrument Bank is on Facebook -- please like us or send a request to join the group!  You'll hear about how many instruments we're giving away, whether there are any special requests for instruments pending, and about our fundraisers.  (We also accept cash and check donations that are used for repairs and other costs associated with the instruments, such as reeds for clarinets and saxes.)  And if you have an instrument you'd like to donate, please do contact me at JWRWAND2@aol.com.  I'll come get it and you'll be brightening a child's life right in this community!

Thank you!