The Children of Nitzan
Beneficiaries of "Fallen Rose"
I wanted to use this record to help
Israel and the Jewish people, so I never doubted that all the
profits from the sale of the "Fallen Rose" CD should go
to charity. The difficulty was to find a charity where my
contribution could make a tangible difference.
As it turned out, a distant relative of mine, Ethel, works for a charity in Israel called Nitzan, which helps learning disabld children. Ethel urged me to visit the children and it was incredibly moving. Nothing in my life prepared me for having a discussion with more than a dozen kids ranging in age from 12-18 with a wide range of mental handicaps. I decided to get involved with Nitzan.
I felt that my help should somehow be involved with music. How? I thought that buying the children musical instruments and some music classes might enable a few of the children to connect with the instruments and possibly continue playing into their future years -- in other words personalizing the instruments to bring them some kind of comfort in their future. I eventually bought them nearly 30 different percussion instruments, my record company donated 50 CD's and I held a few music classes.
The kids were ecstatic. The problem I
had "teaching" them was that no matter what I tried to
get them to do, after 30 seconds the class always wound up
sounding like the inside of a subway station as the trains go by.
After the second music class I realized that in order to really help the kids utilize the instruments to the fullest degree, they would need a professional teaching them -- they would need a professional music therapist.With a bit of persistence some ingenuity and a lot of luck we were able to find a music therapist to come in in once a week to help teach the children of Nitzan using the instruments that I bought for them.
25 August, 1995 Dear Bobby, We wish to convey our most sincere thanks to you for donating your percussion instruments to our YOUTH CLUB and for your kind offer to donate the profits from your disc "Fallen Rose" to NITZAN'S adults. As you suggested, we have been able to find a nice qualified lady in the Music Therapy field who volunteered to help the kids use the instruments. We are sure they will enjoy the project and benefit from it. Thank you again for your continued generousity and willingness to help Nitzan youth and adults who appreciate your warm attitude and support. Most sincerely and with best wishes,
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