Brendan’s Band Trip

Hi, this Mary Beth. I’m Brendan Smith-Hynes’s mom. Brendan is a percussionist in the Hillsboro High School Marching & Symphonic Band. They will be traveling to Walt Disney World this spring (March 31, Brendan’s 15th birthday, to be exact!) That’s why I’m asking for your help.

Brendan has always wanted to play the drums. When he was itty bitty, he’d turn all of our trash cans over (even the full ones!) to turn them into a drum set. When his older sisters joined the band at Good Shepherd, he begged to be a part of it as a second grader. He practiced so hard, every day. When he started public school in seventh grade, the first thing he did was ask about being in band. He was a year behind the others, but once again committed himself to practicing every day and excelling. Which he did. Even more importantly to me, it was through band that Brendan made his first friends at school, feeling accepted in spite of his differences. Brendan has Tourette’s, and some kids weren’t very nice about his physical & vocal tics. But the kids in band were different, and with them, Brendan felt accepted. He’s put in a lot of work which has been recognized & acknowledged by his fellow percussionists and directors.

When Brendan learned the band would be going to Disney World, he was so excited. He worked hard during fund raising, which was to help pay for band fees and his trip expenses. Being a percussionist has a lot of expenses in the first few years, and the generosity of those who helped during fundraising helped with those expenses. There was some money remaining that’s been applied towards the trip. For some time, my dad had talked about having Brendan help him with various jobs around the house and helping with the yard because he was finally old enough. He would’ve saved that money for his trip. Brendan and my mom came to an agreement that if he kept his grades up, she would pay the remainder of the fees for his trip. Brendan would pay her back by taking care of the lawn, helping her around the house, and teaching her how to use her iPhone. But as most of my friends & family know, our family experienced a great deal of loss in 2022. The kids started the year with six grandparents. By the second week in October, they only had two. Opa & Great Grandma Smith passed away in the spring. Dad passed away Bin May, Mom passed away in October. We’ve been working really hard to get these expenses covered so Brendan can go. But Terry & I still aren’t back on our feet from the repeated hits Terry’s health has had since 2019. He was recently laid off with no indication when he’ll be called back. Brendan’s advertised that he’s willing to do whatever odd jobs need to be done, I’m working as many hours as I can. Colby is also trying to help after some hardships that he’s working his way out of. The problem is, we’ve run out of time. That’s why I’m turning to our friends & family to ask for help. I don’t want to. But Brendan has worked so hard this year to maintain super grades (5 A’s & 2 B’s for first semester!) and lost so much this year, that I can’t let him down. He never asks for anything, and he’s always the first to tell me it’s okay when I don’t have the money for something, even when it’s Christmas. I will do whatever it takes to repay you, but I’mb out of time and I just can’t see Brendan’s heart broken again this year.