Posted by TeamCharlie on January 9, 2009 under Kids are Heroes | 
A few weeks ago we were told about a grant that DoSomething.org was sponsoring for 25 winning applicants. It had to be led by someone under 25 and had to be music related. The project also had to be for the benefit of others. That excited us because we felt that MaryMargaret’s Music for Life program fit in perfectly for what this program was searching for. I spent hours on the application because of all the essays that had to be written. When I submitted it I was told that I couldn’t write it – that MaryMargaret had to. Hmmmm… Wish I knew that before. So we had MaryMargaret, a ten-year-old write her own essays, detailing how Kids Are Heroes came about and how her new Music for Life program was formed. She spent the good part of the weekend on it. I honestly thought she was an excellent candidate for this grant. To make a long story short, we received news today that she did not get it. A form letter was sent by email with the vanilla text about her trying again another time.
The prize was to be either $500.00 towards her project or $3000.00 plus a trip to the Grammys. Now of course our main priority is to achieve her goal of raising over $12,500.00 so that all the campers at Camp Friendship will receive MP3 players, but how fun would it be to see her get to go to the Grammys? She never looks for recognition. In fact, when I asked her how it made her feel after she worked so hard on the application she said these exact words to me: “I’m happy for those that got it.” She wasn’t disappointed at all. I think she inherently knows that with or without their grant we will achieve our goal as we will not stop until we get it.
There are so many neat things just around the corner regarding this fund raiser. I just can’t wait to experience them. For those of you that would like to help, please visit MaryMargaret’s donation page. Thank you!
Posted by TeamCharlie on January 4, 2009 under Kids are Heroes, Music for Life |
Well last night was our first official fund raiser for MaryMargaret’s Music for Life program. We were stationed in front of a store for the First Saturday Gallery Walk – a monthly event held downtown Frederick to attract shoppers. Going into it I honestly wasn’t expecting much at all. I had been forewarned by Ann, the owner of Flights of Fancy who was nice enough to let us use the front of her store, that this time of year is the slowest and we probably wouldn’t receive that much foot traffic. She also graciously donated 10% of the proceeds for the entire day to MaryMargaret’s charity, so that made everything worthwhile. The temperature was 30 degrees and falling, it was just past the holidays, and the location was not even close to central as far as downtown is concerned. But that was all OK because it was an excuse to get an article written in the Frederick NewsPost, and it was quite frankly work that I wanted MaryMargaret to have to do. So we bundled up in our long johns, packed up the space heater and headed downtown. Anything good that would happen would be in my mind a real bonus. Getting the 10% of the proceeds was unexpected so we already received one before we even got there. Thankfully there were more of these “bonuses” to come.
MaryMargaret was pleased because she got to play her CD’s for everyone – after all the event is called “Music for Life”. So the Jonas Brothers and Ally and AJ echoed through the chilly night air. We danced a bit to both keep warm and entertain the local traffic. There really weren’t many people out down at this end of town, but I was pleased to see MaryMargaret running after people that were walking by and hand them flyers. We had a visit from a photographer from Frederick Magazine who took our picture. Apparently this will be about the “Frederick Gives Back” theme to the whole Gallery Walk so it might earn us a bit of extra press. It was nice to hear that many people had heard of Kids Are Heroes and some even had read the article. Two gentlemen came by and MaryMargaret handed them a flyer. They told her that they had read the article and came out specifically to see her. As they were introduced they told her it was an honor to meet her. (Proud dad beaming in the background.) One of them dropped a $50 dollar bill in her donation bucket.
Later on a young girl came up seemingly by herself. She looked to be about the same age as MaryMargaret. MaryMargaret went to her and showed her the flyer. I was a bit out of earshot, but I did hear the words “Yes I have been on your web site” and “This is AWESOME!!” The mother then appeared with her 4-year-old son and introduced herself as Laura G. I recognized that name immediately as she had contacted me the day the article came out asking how her daughter could be involved. She is from Lovettsville, VA (about 25 miles away) and they also made a special trip to see MaryMargaret. Little 9-year-old Julia saw the Kids Are Heroes web site and has all kinds of ideas swimming in her head as to what she plans to do. She wants to help her local animal shelter. I asked her how will she raise the money and she said, “By singing!” She sings in a local chorus and she plans to get her friends involved as well. She is also excited about singing at MaryMargaret’s Music for Life brunch in March.
So all in all the evening was a great success. In these times, it is especially difficult to ask people for donations. There are so many people asking that some people are jaded as we indeed witnessed last night. But the passion was very quick to return as we see how inspired people are by what she is doing. This is truly going to be a fun project.
