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The Tacy Foundation empowers children and teens to share hope and joy with hospital patients, military veterans, senior citizens, and disadvantaged youth through performances, music recording projects, and music mentoring programs.
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Directer’s Corner:
Welcome! What a joy to serve our community shoulder-to-shoulder with youth of all ages, nationalities, and personalities. Supported by their parents, these young philanthropists with indomitable spirit are the catalysts for healing.
Every location I visit to observe Foundation activities glows with children and teens sharing music, humor, stories, and gratitude to be there. Story after story of genuine warmth from the seniors, hospital visitors, and staff at each facility fill us with gratitude and a sense of purpose.
Thank you to everyone who touches our lives with wholehearted support and cheer.
This month, volunteers are submitting their music and art for the California Wildfires QR Codes project. The amazing Tech Team is uploading video submissions with care. Business card designer Jessica Chen created a QR Code card so every person who receives it can use a cell phone to watch and listen to our music and to find important information to help the rescuers. The Tech Team, Lumina Zhang, Shaun Wang, Jake Kim, Ethan Hahn, and Samuel Wang, researched the most appropriate agencies in California to receive these donations. Chief Interns have printed flyers, designed by alumna Riona Sheikh, in order to raise interest and awareness where they play live music. After reading the information about the California wildfires to senior and/or hospital audiences, the volunteers are dedicating their performances in senior facilities and hospitals to the recovery of Los Angeles and the people there.
The Cards Team has launched an invitation to create thank-you cards for the LA rescuers. These are the times that bring out the most generosity from our kids and their families. The announcement to make cards for shipping with QR Codes has echoed throughout the signup.com chain. Springing into action, they will make every effort to support the first responders and agencies that come to help rebuild.
Max Belyantsev, our former Tech Team Chief Intern who is now in college, recently sent a video of music to participate in the wildfires recovery efforts.
All of the busy activity to send our hope to California, along with mounting schoolwork and preparation for AP exams, does not slow down nor diminish the 45 monthly live-music events, five Piano Pals classes per week, Reading Express videos for hospital playlists, and initializing of Life Stories – interviews of seniors by appreciative teens.
Enjoy the newsletter! Join us in appreciation for the many families who continue to bless the world every day.
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Charlotte Holliday, Founder and Executive Director
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A Note from Max Belyantsev
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At Columbia, I am part of the Columbia Classical Performers group on campus. We recently had an event at our on-campus chapel, and I have a recording of my performance of Alessandro Marcello's Oboe Concerto in D Minor, II, Adagio (transcribed for piano by Bach). The acoustics of the chapel were impeccable. Here's the link if you'd like to take a listen: Video
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Senior Volunteers Look Back
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I am a senior at Montgomery Blair High School in the Science, Math, Computer Science (SMCS) program. As a Chief Cards Intern, I coordinate with other volunteers to create, distribute, collect, sort, organize, and deliver warm messages and cards to various groups, including senior citizens, hospital patients, military veterans, first responders, and anyone else who needs emotional support. My favorite memories with the Tacy Foundation include playing the trumpet in hospitals before the pandemic and writing and collecting thank-you cards for first responders. I’m very grateful for my time with the Foundation, which gave me the opportunity to work with many wonderful volunteers and helped me develop key leadership and interpersonal skills.
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My involvement with the Tacy Foundation began in the summer of 2022. I love music. I’ve been taking piano and vocal lessons for several years.
In the summer of 2023, I applied for the position of Chief Intern with the Tacy Foundation and was appointed as the Chief Intern at the Waltonwood Senior Living facility in Ashburn. Since then, I have been actively involved in participating, organizing, and coordinating monthly volunteer musical performances at Waltonwood.
Hearing Mrs. Charlotte Holliday speak about the Tacy Foundation’s Piano Pals program at my piano recital last year, I was inspired to bring the program to Loudoun County. I researched all Title 1 elementary schools in Loudoun County and reached out to their principals and vice principals, explaining the Piano Pals program, its benefits, and how it operates.
With the support of Mrs. Holliday, we received a positive response from one Loudoun County Title 1 elementary school, Sully ES. I am currently seeking volunteers to get the program started at Sully ES. As I prepare to attend UVA this fall, successfully launching the Piano Pals program in Loudoun County will be my proudest achievement.
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Classical Music Offers Young People a Way Out of Kenya’s Slums
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Below is a summary of an article from The Washington Post, December 29, 2024
In Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya, an organization called Ghetto Classics is enabling young students (from very tough environments) to enjoy the benefits of learning and performing music. “Now Ghetto Classics provides lessons to about 1,000 students, who feed three orchestras, a choir and a dance group.” This wonderful initiative has many parallels with the Tacy Foundation’s Piano Pals and Guitar Pals.
View the story here
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Below is a summary of the article in the New York Times entitled “For the Sick and Dying, Live Music to Ease the Pain” by Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, published Feb. 11, 2025.
The author of this article played the violin as a teenager. When she visited her elderly father in his nursing home, she would bring along the violin to try to cheer him up. At first when she played, she wasn’t certain how he was reacting, but eventually it became clear that he enjoyed the distraction and beautiful music (often Bach), even if not played professionally.
Facility staff and patients beyond the patient’s room, of course, heard the music, and sure enough, they asked the author to play for them. While the author was uncomfortable initially, her comfort level rose rapidly, despite the normal distractions of noise and movement in the facility.
The article refers to “a nationwide trend to bring the arts into health care settings” and refers to recent publications that describe the trend.
The article mentions several musical programs in health-care facilities. “Musicians from the Curtis Institute play for people with dementia in memory care centers in Philadelphia. The Juilliard School sends musicians to senior living facilities in New York. At the University of Florida Health, patients can book songwriting sessions with professionals.” In 2018 staff from the Peabody Institute in Baltimore began playing music in Johns Hopkins Hospital, and the Peabody participants have recognized that the music is not only calming and a distraction but also facilitates interactions, both verbal and nonverbal, between the musicians and the patients.
Beyond the enjoyment of patients and residents, the benefits of music to sometimes overly busy and stressed facility staff have been noted.
One of the insights from the relatively few years of experience in bringing music to medical and care facilities is that patients/residents very much appreciate a choice in what type of music and what specific music they hear.
The full article is much richer than this summary.
Access it here
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Educational Mission: Foster youth development through music, story and mentoring
Philanthropic Mission: Empower youth to discover and use their gifts in service to others
Social Mission: Build community partnerships and create intergenerational connections
Whom We Serve
Seniors
Children
Teens
Service members
Veterans
Injured/sick
Economically disadvantaged
Individuals who want to serve
How We Serve (Programs)
Live music concerts
Reading Express®
Piano Pals®
Guitar Pals®
Composers’ Circle
Music USBs
Musical equipment
COVID projects through video, email, cards, puzzles for outreach to the community
Charlotte Holliday, Founder and Executive Director
Matthew D. Scott and Michael Tacy, Graphic Editors
Michael Favin, Chief Editor
Zoe Bell, Teen Editor
Max Belyanstev, Teen Editor
Donations are appreciated. All adult and teen staff are volunteers. No salaries or benefits. Every dollar you donate goes to supplies for all projects offered to the community.
Thank you!
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