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The call came in late September 2024 while news was still fresh of multiple storms on the East Coast.
"A high school needs to rebuild their music program! Can we do something to help?"
The home of the Bulldogs, Hampton High School in Hampton, Tennessee, and its music program along with it, had just been decimated by Category 4 Hurricane Helene. Near-total flooding called for a temporary relocation of the school's operations to a nearby office building, while the pieces of the school grounds were slowly picked up.
Meanwhile, across the country, one Hampton High teacher's fateful email had reached the curious ears of Bernadette Mata, fellow educator on YouTube and owner of the online ukulele store Ukelandia.
"The teacher wanted to replace her personal ukulele she had purchased before, now lost in the flood, but I knew there was more to the story," said Bernadette.
And so began the new mission to bring the joy of music back to Hampton High, replacing ukuleles previously used in their Music Education classes that were lost to the storms. With the clock ticking, Bernadette and her Ukelandia online community raised over $1,000 on GoFundMe in a matter of hours, and the recovery effort was on its way.
All proceeds went directly toward providing a full class set of more than 20 instruments and sets of ukulele learning materials to this center of learning that very much needed a helping hand.
Not long after, we heard back from the school's band director, Amber Viera.
"I am in shock! They arrived today and there is so much! They are beautiful and they sound beautiful too! I love the materials and shakers and everything. You have no idea how much this means to us. Thank you so much," Amber exclaimed.
By late October, music classes had resumed in the school's temporary location, including the Music Education class taught by Amber.
What a joy it is to see these students with big smiles on their faces as they hold their new ukuleles!
Related links:
GoFundMe for Hampton High's Music Education