Music lovers can get a pancake breakfast and support school musical programs for a song Oct. 29.
The Instruments in Your Attic program of Aiken Performing Arts will sponsor the breakfast, featuring pancakes, mixed fruit and a beverage, from 8 to 10 a.m. at Fatz Café at 996 Pine Log Road.
IYA donates refurbished and new musical instruments to Aiken County Public Schools.
Tickets are $8, and $5 of the cost is a tax-deductible contribution to benefit IYA.
To buy tickets in advance, call APA at 803-643-4774. Band boosters at Ridge Spring-Monetta and Silver Bluff high schools and North Augusta and New Ellenton middle schools are selling advance tickets, too. Tickets also will be available at the door.
Tips also will go to the IYA fund.
“We created a slogan for this year’s breakfast, Pancakes for a Purpose - the purpose being to find funds to be able to meet schools’ musical needs,” said Bob Kelley, director of the IYA program and a member of the APA board of directors.
More than 30 people already have volunteered to work the breakfast, and Aiken Mayor Rick Osbon, Betty Ryberg, Aiken County Public School Superintendent Dr. Sean Alford and Aiken County Board of Education Chairman Rosemary English will greet diners. “They want to support the effort,” Kelley said. “That is a wonderful show of their realization that this program is very meaningful to the district.”
The pancake breakfast will be held in conjunction with IYA’s annual drive to collect unused musical instruments from community residents. IYA then evaluates the instruments, refurbishes them and gives them to Aiken County schools based on need.
The drive, sponsored by Security Federal, will continue through Thanksgiving weekend.
“We accept any instrument and provide a letter acknowledging the donation for tax purposes,” Kelley said. “We cover the gamut from small flutes – piccolos – up through brass instruments and woodwinds and drum sets. Last year, we had 12 violins, and this year we got 12 guitars. We found a ready home for all of them.”
Since the IYA drive began in 1989, the program has donated nearly 300 new and refurbished music instruments to Aiken County Public Schools. This year, IYA distributed 40 instruments, including eight pianos.
Donors can take instruments to Security Federal.
Each year, Rose Puckett, Alford’s administration assistant at the school district, and Vicky Durden, the administrative assistant to the Aiken County Board of Education, canvas district schools and make a list of their needs, Kelley said.
“So far, 18 schools have responded and requested more than 100 instruments,” he said.
IYA also accepts monetary donations, said Elizabeth Harm, the co-director of the program with Kelley and an APA board member.
“If there is a company or individual who wants to make a financial contribution, we take them as well,” Harm said. “It’s a great time for them to look at their budgets to see if they can help support this program.”
To donate an instrument, call APA at 803-643-4774 or Kelley at 803-643-0800 for directions to the nearest Security Federal or to have an instrument picked up.
In addition to Security Federal, the other sponsors are SRNS and Women of Woodside.
Story by Larry Wood, Education with the Aiken Standard.