Help Repair Maggie's Piano!
Donation protected
7-10-17: My piano is finally at the factory for repairs! I now know all the details and can say that the final total for all of this will be $1987. Donations received at the start of the campaign cover a whopping 1/3 of the final costs, so thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far! Please continue to share this campaign if you will, as I now can't even get ahold of the moving company and every little bit helps. Thank you!
On April 26th, my beloved Walter Piano was severely damaged and rendered unplayable due to the negligence of professional movers. I'm a professional musician, but my piano is not just my career and livelihood, it is an irreplaceable part of me.
My gorgeous cherry wood Walter console piano was built for my family by the Walter Piano Co in Elkhart IN in 1989. I began piano lessons when I was 5 years old and have memories of traveling to the factory in Elkhart to see our piano being built for us. It has been with me ever since, through my entire musical career, for over 28 years. Losing my piano has been like losing a piece of myself, I have been absolutely heartbroken to be without it.
Professional movers were hired to aid in my husband's and my relocation from TN to GA due to my husband's new job. We paid special handling fees for the move of my piano and were assured that the movers were pros who moved pianos "almost daily." Understandably nervous, I reminded them several times throughout the day how special the piano is to me, telling them that "I know you know what you're doing, but it's my baby."
My husband witnessed the negligence of the movers as they dropped my piano, causing it to fall flat on its back partly on the sidewalk and partly on the lawn in front of our house. The piano was strapped to a dolly and on a flat surface, there was simply no excuse for it to have happened. The movers brought a crew of 6 men, but only had 2 moving the piano. The damages were caused by their carelessness with the only one of our belongings that I really cared about.
My piano is the same piano that I first learned to play piano on over 28 years ago. It has been there through dozens of competitions and performances, countless thousands of hours of my life. Even when I was in college for music, I would return to the piano at my parents' home and play for hours on end during the weekends. Only a couple weeks ago, I told my husband that even if I someday have an amazing grand piano, I could never give up my Walter upright. It is every bit a part of myself as my arms.
On top of the sentimental value of the piano to me, it is also my livelihood. I have 3 degrees in music performance and the majority of my income is from teaching lessons, which I am now unable to do because of the loss of my piano. Prior to our move to GA, I had been advertising for piano lessons in our new town and already had lessons scheduled to begin just a few days after our move. I was forced to cancel all lessons and have lost students to other teachers because of the indeterminate amount of time before I will be able to start teaching again. I'm also unable to continue advertising and finding new students until I know that I will actually be able to teach them.
(This Christmas Medley is a video I uploaded in December as a preview of a new video project I intended to start after our move.)
My piano has to return to the Walter Piano Co in Elkhart IN to be repaired. All transport and repair of the piano is coming out of our pockets, which we are not able to afford. I'm in the process of filing an insurance claim with the moving company, but they are currently only offering to pay 60 cents to the pound...which will only come out to around $200 to be reimbursed to us months from now. After they dropped the piano, we were given the option of paying an extra $4500 for "full coverage" insurance that would pay $6 to the pound...but that would still only amount to a possible $2000 given back to us. The $4500 they wanted us to pay for "full coverage" would go further in repairing the piano!
I appreciate each and every penny offered in help to get my piano back into working condition and returned to me. I feel like I can't say it enough how much my piano means to me. There is no price on memories, but any help towards the repairs would mean the world to me. Thank you!
On April 26th, my beloved Walter Piano was severely damaged and rendered unplayable due to the negligence of professional movers. I'm a professional musician, but my piano is not just my career and livelihood, it is an irreplaceable part of me.
My gorgeous cherry wood Walter console piano was built for my family by the Walter Piano Co in Elkhart IN in 1989. I began piano lessons when I was 5 years old and have memories of traveling to the factory in Elkhart to see our piano being built for us. It has been with me ever since, through my entire musical career, for over 28 years. Losing my piano has been like losing a piece of myself, I have been absolutely heartbroken to be without it.Professional movers were hired to aid in my husband's and my relocation from TN to GA due to my husband's new job. We paid special handling fees for the move of my piano and were assured that the movers were pros who moved pianos "almost daily." Understandably nervous, I reminded them several times throughout the day how special the piano is to me, telling them that "I know you know what you're doing, but it's my baby."
My husband witnessed the negligence of the movers as they dropped my piano, causing it to fall flat on its back partly on the sidewalk and partly on the lawn in front of our house. The piano was strapped to a dolly and on a flat surface, there was simply no excuse for it to have happened. The movers brought a crew of 6 men, but only had 2 moving the piano. The damages were caused by their carelessness with the only one of our belongings that I really cared about.
My piano is the same piano that I first learned to play piano on over 28 years ago. It has been there through dozens of competitions and performances, countless thousands of hours of my life. Even when I was in college for music, I would return to the piano at my parents' home and play for hours on end during the weekends. Only a couple weeks ago, I told my husband that even if I someday have an amazing grand piano, I could never give up my Walter upright. It is every bit a part of myself as my arms.
On top of the sentimental value of the piano to me, it is also my livelihood. I have 3 degrees in music performance and the majority of my income is from teaching lessons, which I am now unable to do because of the loss of my piano. Prior to our move to GA, I had been advertising for piano lessons in our new town and already had lessons scheduled to begin just a few days after our move. I was forced to cancel all lessons and have lost students to other teachers because of the indeterminate amount of time before I will be able to start teaching again. I'm also unable to continue advertising and finding new students until I know that I will actually be able to teach them.
(This Christmas Medley is a video I uploaded in December as a preview of a new video project I intended to start after our move.)
My piano has to return to the Walter Piano Co in Elkhart IN to be repaired. All transport and repair of the piano is coming out of our pockets, which we are not able to afford. I'm in the process of filing an insurance claim with the moving company, but they are currently only offering to pay 60 cents to the pound...which will only come out to around $200 to be reimbursed to us months from now. After they dropped the piano, we were given the option of paying an extra $4500 for "full coverage" insurance that would pay $6 to the pound...but that would still only amount to a possible $2000 given back to us. The $4500 they wanted us to pay for "full coverage" would go further in repairing the piano!
I appreciate each and every penny offered in help to get my piano back into working condition and returned to me. I feel like I can't say it enough how much my piano means to me. There is no price on memories, but any help towards the repairs would mean the world to me. Thank you!
Organizer
Maggie Lovell
Organizer
Canton, GA
