After our son, Nicholas, was born in January of 1997, we were flooded with gifts. We had no idea how many generous people we had in our lives. As the holiday season of 1997 approached, we found ourselves in an unusual dilemma. We knew that our students would be generous and give us wonderful holiday gifts, but at the same time we knew that we didn’t need more gifts. What to do? It would be ungracious of us to ask for no gifts; we know that it is one way for our students to express their gratitude for our commitment to singing and to them. So, we came up with the idea of the Holiday Service Project.

That first year, we contacted the Salvation Army Shelter in Norristown, PA and became a part of their Angel program. The project was a tremendous success. Our students were generous with gifts and food for children and families that have so much less than most of us. It truly was one of the highlights of our holiday season that year to participate in distributing the gifts and food at the shelter in Norristown.

Since that year we have asked our students to donate to a different project every holiday. We always offer options – students can donate money, items or time. By having these options, no one feels like they can’t contribute. We’ve packed boxes of clothing for orphans in Azerbaijan and boxes of supplies for soliders in Iraq (let’s hope we don’t have to do that for too much longer!). We’ve given glorious amounts of food to food drives right here in our backyards.

We now look forward to the Holiday Service Project every year. If you are a private music teacher, or just an individual overwhelmed with all of your “stuff”, we strongly encourage you to start your own service projects.

Photo of Richard delivering contributions to our 2007 Holiday Service Project - WePAC (West Philadelphia Alliance for Children):

Photos of contributions from our 2006 Holiday Service Project - Toby Farms Elementary School Food Drive: