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Santa Clara, Calif. corps band raises money to fund beginners.
by Neil Saunders –
Recognizing the absence of budding musicians at the Redwood Glen music camp, the Santa Clara Citadel bandmaster, Jerry Knickerbocker, challenged his ensemble—forgo the beloved cappuccino for a year and donate that money to fund campers.
The band members—the majority under age 20—immediately accepted, hoping to raise enough money to send 15 children to camp this summer.
The group decided to send children from the Tulare Corps, where more than 30 children are learning to play brass instruments each week, and donated several instruments to alleviate sharing horns during lessons.
Within four weeks, the band had raised over $1,000.
Not stopping there, they continued donating and even planned to present a concert at the Tulare Corps to raise more money.
Tulare Corps Captain David Scott sent out invitations and the band came to play for over 150 people. An offering brought in $700; two checks were also presented, totaling $1,100.
Longtime supporter of the Tulare Corps band—having donated more than 80 instruments in the last decade—advisory board member Ken Lange joined in to give the corps an additional $2,500 for camp sponsorships.
To this point, the Santa Clara Citadel band has raised $6,848—and is still collecting, now expecting to send 30 children to camp.
“It’s exciting because Tulare being such a poor community, we have never had such an opportunity to send this many kids to camp,” Captain Scott said. “This will help the kids become motivated to continue to study. Many kids are underachievers because of their lifestyle and lack of family support. This will drastically help make changes for them in the future.”
Knickerbocker taught many current Santa Clara Citadel band members when they were children. At camp this summer, he will be teaching the next generation of the Tulare band.