Every year for my birthday (January 17) I raise money for a charitable organization. This year I am raising money for the remarkably beautiful (and expensive to maintain!) pipe organ at Our Lady of the Angels Parish in Worcester, Massachusetts.

One of the grandest and most beautiful Neogothic churches in Central Massachusetts, OLA is known for its stunning stained glass windows. When the organ was designed 40 years ago by the British firm J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd, great care was taken not to cover any of the windows. Thus the mechanical design is very ingenious — but also very complex, with many moving parts. Pipe organs are like people: after decades of use, parts start to wear out. (And believe me, on my birthday I have heightened awareness of this reality!)

No one who has heard this awe-inspiring organ has ever forgotten the experience. Help me to do my part in ensuring that this instrument continues to inspire for many years to come.