$5,135 raised
·79 donations
Music for Alan
Donation protected
In memory of Alan Farwell, please help me raise $5,000 this summer to buy jazz band equipment for Elkton Middle School!
June 8th marked 20 years since the tragic deaths of my friends Alan Farwell and Forrest "Woody" Sprague. While on an epic cross-country road trip, they were killed in an unexpected Colorado snowstorm. August 28th would have also been Alan's 40th birthday. These occasions provide a meaningful opportunity for us to remember Alan and make a positive impact in his name.
Starting with childhood bagpipe competitions, music shaped Alan's life. He learned to play tuba and joined concert band, jazz band, marching band, and even the pit for school musicals at Salesianum! He taught himself to play dulcimer just out of curiosity. With his guitar, he was an energetic worship leader in our youth groups and in his college InterVarsity chapter. But he definitely loved expressing his goofy side in the sousaphone section of the University of Delaware marching band. He even convinced Woody to give up saxophone and join him during their sophomore year!
Alan attended Elkton Middle School (EMS) and I first met him on the bus headed to All-County Band practice. When our bus picked up the EMS students, he and his tuba had to wedge into a tiny seat with me and my flute! Remembering that ridiculous trip sparked this project's goal of giving more middle school kids the opportunity to make music.
To turn my idea into reality, I teamed up with Brandi Vogeley, the current band director at EMS. During the 2014-15 school year, she started a jazz band as an after-school program with borrowed equipment and music. To further develop her jazz band, she is in need of a vibraphone, a bass guitar and amp, an electric guitar and amp, a keyboard amp, congas, and a music library. Your donation will help more students participate in jazz band and develop their own life-long enjoyment of music. I can't think of a better legacy for Alan!
If you would like to share pictures, memories, or thoughts about Alan over the summer, please use #MusicforAlan or #SummerforAlan on social media.
Find me under my real name on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I'd love to hear from you, and I will be posting things throughout the project.
Full disclosure: Brandi Vogeley is married to my cousin. This project was planned to support EMS regardless of that relationship.
June 8th marked 20 years since the tragic deaths of my friends Alan Farwell and Forrest "Woody" Sprague. While on an epic cross-country road trip, they were killed in an unexpected Colorado snowstorm. August 28th would have also been Alan's 40th birthday. These occasions provide a meaningful opportunity for us to remember Alan and make a positive impact in his name.
Starting with childhood bagpipe competitions, music shaped Alan's life. He learned to play tuba and joined concert band, jazz band, marching band, and even the pit for school musicals at Salesianum! He taught himself to play dulcimer just out of curiosity. With his guitar, he was an energetic worship leader in our youth groups and in his college InterVarsity chapter. But he definitely loved expressing his goofy side in the sousaphone section of the University of Delaware marching band. He even convinced Woody to give up saxophone and join him during their sophomore year!
Alan attended Elkton Middle School (EMS) and I first met him on the bus headed to All-County Band practice. When our bus picked up the EMS students, he and his tuba had to wedge into a tiny seat with me and my flute! Remembering that ridiculous trip sparked this project's goal of giving more middle school kids the opportunity to make music.
To turn my idea into reality, I teamed up with Brandi Vogeley, the current band director at EMS. During the 2014-15 school year, she started a jazz band as an after-school program with borrowed equipment and music. To further develop her jazz band, she is in need of a vibraphone, a bass guitar and amp, an electric guitar and amp, a keyboard amp, congas, and a music library. Your donation will help more students participate in jazz band and develop their own life-long enjoyment of music. I can't think of a better legacy for Alan!
If you would like to share pictures, memories, or thoughts about Alan over the summer, please use #MusicforAlan or #SummerforAlan on social media.
Find me under my real name on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I'd love to hear from you, and I will be posting things throughout the project.
Full disclosure: Brandi Vogeley is married to my cousin. This project was planned to support EMS regardless of that relationship.
Donations
Organizer
Gretchen Schneider Ipock
Organizer
Elkton, MD