♩ Director’s Corner
HAPPY NEW YEAR
We are still in holiday mode here, recovering from the flurry of activity in December.
Our student volunteers made beautiful cards for five hospitals and 27 seniors’ facilities, performed in 34 Live Music events (learning holiday music for this special time of the year), taught five Piano/Guitar Pals classes each week, sent in music videos for the standard YouTube Playlist and for the Holiday YouTube Playlist, and composed music compositions for the Composer’s Circle classes. Michael Tacy, Composer's Circle Director, created QR code cards for easy access to music via phone or any device. MCPADNET printed the QR code cards by the thousands to accompany the holiday greeting cards.
It was my greatest privilege to organize the precious packages of colorful holiday cards and QR codes. We sent about 3,000 hand-made and pre-printed cards to seniors and hospital patients. We also sent 1,350 holiday cards with QR code cards and kids’ personal messages on the back to the 68 Fisher Houses. Thank you to all young artists, participants, and the Cards Team for organizing the entire project for delivery in time for holiday special events. Thank you to the activity directors of each facility for requesting and distributing each card from us. And thank you to MCPADNET for sorting and shipping holiday packages to all Fisher Houses in the USA.
Our youth volunteers’ remarkable resilience during COVID's challenges has deeply inspired me. For the holidays, I embarked on an adventure that will remain with me for the rest of my life. Using the list of all 1,130 volunteers and their addresses, I wrote a letter to thank each one for his and her heartfelt contributions to the many recipients, including military, Uvalde, seniors, hospitals, and first responders. I will never forget this experience.
When I came to the 350th letter, I began to wonder how I would ever finish writing to each one. Continuing down the list toward the finish line, my awareness and appreciation for each volunteer grew. Each one has come to us to inspire hope through cards, stories, music, leadership of projects and events, a helping hand, a kind word, and a tremendous love for humankind. The most profound joy and appreciation for each person flooded my spirit as I wrote names on the letters and placed a QR code card filled with their music in the envelope.
Addressing each envelope awakened a realization of the magnitude of the Foundation’s steady growth. In Maryland, the volunteers live in Potomac, North Potomac, Rockville, Germantown, Boyds, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring, Olney, Poolesville, Clarksburg, Damascus, Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village, Mount Airy, Brookeville, Garrett Park, Hyattsville, Burtonsville, Monrovia, Glenelg, Derwood, Upper Marlboro, Woodstock, Ijamsville, Kensington, Gambrils, College Park, Ellicott City, Adelphi, Monrovia, Urbana, and Frederick.
In Virginia, volunteers in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties are very well-represented in Great Falls, Fair Oaks, Chantilly, Springfield, McLean, Oakton, Vienna, Clifton, Sterling, Falls Church, Ashburn, Leesburg, Herndon, Lansdowne, Centreville, Annandale, Manassas, Lorton, Piedmont, and Burke. From other locations, teens have searched for opportunities and have sent in their gifts of cards for shipping and music for the private Tacy Foundation YouTube playlist. They are from Washington DC, Oakland, CA, Newton, MA, St. Charles, IL, Pleasantville, NY, Nashville, TN, Frisco, TX, and Soldotna, Alaska. They found us on the internet or through friends who have volunteered here.
Since the Foundation began, so many children, teens, and their families have participated! They all have brought their own unique messages. In so doing, they have become philanthropists. They will continue to make this a better world wherever they go from here on their life’s journey.
Happy New Year to all who play music, make cards of all occasions, read stories, teach music lessons, organize events, manage the data for so many different projects and so many people, supervise events, and invite the spirit of abundance wherever you go. With your kind words, positive actions, and generosity in reaching out to help others, you have touched the hearts and minds of so many people.
Pierced with a deep sense of reverence for each one of our volunteers, I write this message with love and gratitude.
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Joy (and Hard Work) Is in the Cards
Karina Willis-Lara
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Remembering the old saying of “My, how time flies,” I wonder how much time our volunteers spent on the Cards Project in 2022? Those efforts included designing cards, writing thoughtful messages, sorting, reviewing, corresponding by email, filling out google forms, and communicating with and delivering to contacts at impacted facilities. 2022 Cards Projects included cheerful get-well cards, thank you cards for teachers and military, autumn cards for seniors, special cards for the Uvalde community and Hurricane Ian First Responders, and, of course, our annual pre-printed and handmade holiday cards!
A very special thank you to each of our Chief Card Interns, including Matthew Kim, Eric Zou and Mario Lara. All three individuals are either in middle school or high school, balancing schoolwork, other volunteer opportunities and many other extracurricular activities. Without their leadership and volunteer efforts, we would not have been able to touch so many recipients through our Cards Projects.
We thank Michael Favin, Chief Newsletter Editor, Matthew D. Scott and Michael Tacy, Graphic Editors, and Evan Yee and Ethan Schenker, Teen Editors, for creating and publishing the Tacy Foundation newsletter. The newsletter is a big avenue for highlighting our cards projects and informing our volunteers of the many opportunities and achievements of the Tacy Foundation.
We thank Ms. Holliday, the Tacy Foundation, Founder and Executive Director, for providing us with the opportunity to create cards for people from all walks of life. Even with all the Tacy Foundation opportunities, you amaze us by finding the time to communicate, coordinate and deliver to these facilities while sometimes including mementos like the cards with the QR codes to the Tacy Foundation YouTube playlist.
Lastly, our Cards Projects were successful in 2022 because of our volunteers, and we thank these volunteers so much. To continue our Cards Projects and so many other projects in 2023, I encourage and ask all of you for a monetary donation to the Tacy Foundation. You can donate with the button below!
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Kenji Yokote - Holiday Cards
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Miguel Angel Chamoun - Uvaldi Cards
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Sandy Springs Lion’s Club Annual Holiday Banquet
By Charlotte Tacy
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Tacy Foundation teens were invited to play live background music for the Sandy Springs Lion’s Club’s annual Holiday Banquet. Ms. McCloskey, a wonderful friend of the Foundation and former Activity Director of Forest Oak Towers HOC Living in Gaithersburg, also invited Richard Pedersen, President of the Tacy Foundation, to speak along with Ms. Holliday about their community service work. All members and guests met at the Firehouse on Brooke Road in Sandy Springs, MD on Monday evening, December 19.
When Ms. McCloskey asked us to arrange volunteer musicians to play background music for the Lion's Club, Shaun Wang, Chief Intern of Brookdale Assisted Living, immediately volunteered along with his brother, Samuel. Their friend Matthew Wong joined them also for the evening. The Wang family have shown great care for the community by volunteering their music, art, and stories for six years. Once again, they brought such beauty to the event. A mix of classical and holiday songs for violin and piano with their friend Matthew led to delightful conversation among the Lion's Club members.
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Following the music and speeches, the Club invited us to join them in the catered dinner What a generous group of people!
The Lion’s Club is known as a prominent civic organization that supports youth and other community services. Members contribute time and funds to members of the community in need. Their presence has been felt for decades nationwide. For more information, go to: https://sandyspringlions.com.
We were so honored to be in their company for their holiday celebration!
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What the Tacy Foundation Means to Me
Lester I. Tacy, Tacy Foundation Treasurer
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My big sister, Charlotte Tacy Holliday, founder of the Tacy Foundation, has been an inspiration to me since I was a young boy. I remember listening to her play piano and wondering how anyone could be that talented. I would even ask her to play so I could go to sleep at night. Her technique and interpretation were so beautiful, each note floating from her fingers to my brain and heart. Her inspiration led me to also become a musician.
Charlotte has continued to inspire me throughout her life in many ways. As the founder of the Tacy Foundation, she has created, along with many wonderful volunteers, a way for young people to use their music to serve others. The programs of the Tacy Foundation encourage our youth to serve with their musical talents. It is through this Foundation that I learned the concept that music can heal. There is growing evidence that this is the case as more studies have been completed verifying this reality.
Indeed, music does heal. Music changes lives. Music inspires and motivates us to be our best selves. Music benefits us all, whether we are performing, composing, teaching, or listening. The Tacy Foundation has created a multi-faceted framework that encourages our young people, and by extension people of all ages, to be inspired by music.
Through the Tacy Foundation, our young people have a variety of opportunities to perform at multiple venues. They are also encouraged to compose music. The Foundation’s Composer’s Circle program, run by Michael Tacy, assists interested youth in creating aural art through music. Our young people are also encouraged to teach through the Piano Pals program, helping local students learn how to play and experience music in a very special way. Imagine the impact! These experiences in performing, as well as the skills learned in creating musical compositions and the opportunity to teach musical skills, impacts their lives, and the lives of many others.
The Tacy Foundation is an investment in our youth. These talented people will become leaders who will inspire others. The Tacy Foundation is a gift to our youth, allowing them to pay it forward and have impact on others in the future.
This is what the Tacy Foundation means to me.
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A Volunteer’s Story
By Roger Zhang
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