ST PAUL, Minn. — Murray Middle School band and orchestra students have been making some serious noise after a fundraising website that they helped create to fix broken instruments, has generated some serious money.
"It's kind of unbelievable how far it's taken off because," said Nel Uden, an eighth grader at Murray. "I mean, it's just a middle school website."
A group of band parents worked with students to create the website www.adoptaninstrument.com, which allows anyone to make a donation to cover the costs of fully, or partially, repairing a damaged instrument.
The website features real photos and the actual costs associated with the repairs, but the names and backstories for the instruments are works of glorious fiction.
"I said, what if we made the instruments real to people," said Melissa Williams, one of the parents who helped create the fundraising site. "We helped make it happen, but what the kids were able to do, was amazing."
Music Director Danae Olson said the school quickly ran through its entire instrument repair budget this year, as student demand finally bounced back after the pandemic, but the instruments did not.
Denae Olsen: "You can see the impact of the pandemic in my numbers. My advanced band right now is 10 kids. My beginning band is 40."
Kent Erdahl: "And how many of those 40 beginners use school instruments?"
Oson: "Every single one of my beginners uses a school-loaned instrument, and the problem with instruments after the pandemic is if they sit for long enough, pads need to be replaced, it's like a car, you know, you just have to keep doing some of those maintenance things."
In response, students helped name 85 different instruments and then wrote backstories that described the repairs needed.
The stories helped it gain attention online and also inspired a lot of giving. Just 10 days after launching, 50 of the 85 instruments have been adopted, raising more than $7,000 of the $13,000 needed for repairs.
"I can't believe it," Olsen said. "It's so awesome to see how much the community is supporting the arts again."
"It means a lot because seeing some of these getting adopted means we're going to have more band kids in the future," said Demond Harrison, who started playing a school-owned oboe this spring. "I love it. I don't know how to express it but I really wish I could say thank you in person to them."
If you're interested in helping out, there are still instruments available for adoption and the school has also set up a general fund that you can contribute to, to pay for future repairs.
Watch more Breaking The News:
Watch all of the latest stories from Breaking The News in our YouTube playlist: