from Fred Klonsky:
“About a year ago my friend, attorney and musician Matt Farmer wrote
a piece for Huffington Post about Darwin Elementary School’s music
teacher, Joe Panganiban. He is known as Mr. P. Darwin in my neighborhood
school, three blocks away. One of my daughters, now grown up with kids of her
own, went to Darwin.
“Although Logan Square is a quickly gentrifying neighborhood, Darwin’s
student population is 95% low-income. Mr. P could use 20 more ukuleles for
his students. He has posted on Donor’s Choose. You can go there and
donate any amount you wish.
“This is the part where I should talk about the value of the arts and the
lack of access in many Chicago’s schools. I’m skipping that part. You may know
that I volunteer each year, teaching the uke to kids at a school in Little
Village.
“I love the uke! I don’t know Mr. P personally. But I know the
uke, and I know kids love learning and playing music with it.
“I am making a contribution to Donor’s Choose to help Mr. P buy a set of ukes for his
students at Darwin. These are real instruments. Not toys. They cost from $100
to about $190. A classroom set runs about four grand.
“As of this morning Mr. P has about [$1700] to go. Maybe you can help. Oh, here is another article about Darwin’s music program that was in DNAinfo.”
from Fred Klonsky’s Blog
Thanks, Glen.
ReplyDeletefrom Mr. P (& His Students):
ReplyDelete"It is incredibly humbling and inspiring to see how much of our school community came out to support the project! And yes.. even if you are thousands of miles away, you have become part of our community! I am so very thankful to each and everyone of you who have come to support the project and my students. I know that with your support and generosity, you have and will continue to inspire every single student who touches these instruments. It is unbelievable how not only incredibly fast the project funded, but also how wide spread the project was reached. Again, thank you, thank you, thank you! All the best."
With gratitude,
Mr. P.