2013 Freesax Garden Party Brings Together 30 Supporters of Music Education
Our first annual garden party was a great success for our foundation! About 30 people attended the event, enjoying great food donated by local businesses (thank you Rubio’s Belmont Shore, Daphne’s Greek, and Zephyr Vegetarian Restaurant in Long Beach!), amazing music from band geeks united and the Corona Del Mar Jazz Combo, a beautiful setting and wine and beer (thank you to Louie’s on Main for your continued support!) We were able to raise over $500 towards our 2013 programs and, with those donations, made our funding goals for the year.
We were happy to announce two of our four scholarship recipients who were able to attend the event: Garrett Dahl received one of our CSULB scholarships for 2013 and Victor Ochoa received a full scholarship to Arrowbear Music Camp’s Intermediate session! The directors really enjoyed meeting these two talented students and were proud to honor them at this event.
Stay tuned to freesax.org for photos from the event, complete announcements of our 2013 programs and grant recipients, and for all of our scholarship honorees! Thank you to our friends and supporters for your attendance at this amazing event; we’ll see you next year!
2013 Freesax Live Benefit: Think Music Another Success for the Freesax Foundation
Our 2013 Fundraising concert, held on March 9, 2013, was an incredible night of music and laughter. We raised close to $3,000 towards our 2013 programs, which will enable us to continue our path of growth and keep our benefits and grant programs flowing! The night saw incredible entertainment from the Oak and McAuliffe Middle School jazz bands, showcasing what a commitment to music education and dynamic leadership (from Justin Padilla and Chuck Wackerman, respectively) can do for a group of talented middle school students. We were also honored to have performances from Larry Greenfield on violin, Love4Cello with their contemporary cello compositions, The Brass Choir’s booming arrangements, and several other groups that truly represented what our cause is about: ensuring music education was available to all students in our schools.
Our silent auction was once again a success and a great way for us to raise money while bringing goods and services of great value to our attendees. Our corporate sponsor list grew this year to close to 50 local businesses and well-respected companies who donated items and gift cards to be auctioned off. The highlight of the auction were two round-trip vouchers on JetBlue airlines to any U.S. destination. The Foundation sincerely wishes to thank our 2013 sponsors. Stay tuned to this page for photos and videos from the event.
Sincere thanks are due to: Discount Tire Centers, Sprinkles Cupcakes, Oakley Sunglasses, JetBlue Airways, We Olive, Green Thumb Gardens, Tilted Kilt, Tantalum Restaurant, Epson, Hof’s Hut, Pei Wei Restaurant, Ambiance Spa, Marie Callendar’s Restaurant, BJ’s Restaurant, Trader Joe’s Long Beach, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, OCSA, Great Dane Bakery, Phuket Thai, PREP Kitchen Essentials, Café La Strada, Kiwi Wine and Spirits, Cali MacNuts, Domenico’s, Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, Louie’s on Main, Sprouts Grocery Store, Morey’s Music, Joel Williams Web Design, Bevmo, Paul Podraza Insurance, Anna Julia, Debi Guedry, Jade Weber, Frosted Cupcakery, Nick Chavez Beverly Hills, Nick’s on 2nd, and Tanya Pollner.
2nd Annual Chamber Music Recital brings beautiful music to the UUCLB
A group performs at the 2012 Chamber Recital sponsored by the Freesax Foundation
The 2012 Chamber Music Recital was a great success, and our new venue, the beautiful Wylder Hall at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Long Beach, lived up to expectations. The UUCLB is a friend of our organization and donated use of the hall without charge for this year’s event. The recital featured music by Beethoven, Villa-Lobos, Metallica, Bach, and many more. Chris McCarthy, former student of Fred R. Peters and an alumnus of two of his most treasured programs (CSULB and Arrowbear Music Camp) produced the event and organized the musicians who graciously donated their time to raise funds for our organization. Over $200 was raised at this event, which will help us fund scholarships and donate materials and instruments to needy music programs throughout California. The Foundation was also offered a donation of a baritone saxophone by an attendee, overall an incredibly successful night!
One of the highlights of the recital was the performance by Nate Phung of a contemporary piano composition, Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues by composer Frederic Rzewski, that was played with, among other things, his elbows. The piece engaged the audience in the way that truly inspiring music, played by professionals with respect for their instrument, can do. Thank you to the UUCLB and its Music Committee, in particular David James, and to Christopher McCarthy and all the performers from the Freesax Foundation, you have produced a truly amazing night.
FIRST ANNUAL FUNDRAISING CONCERT, MARCH 10 2012 A GREAT SUCCESS
Our first annual fundraising concert, Freesax Live Benefit: Music Matters, held on March 10, 2012 was a great success. The on-stage talent was incredible and drew strong praise from our attendees. Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Great Dane Bakery in Los Alamitos, and Sprinkles Cupcakes provided first-class refreshments. Our silent auction items were also a tremendous success, and thank to our corporate sponsors we raised enough money in the auction merchandise alone to send a student to Arrowbear Music Camp.
The McGaugh Elementary School Auditorium in Seal Beach was an ideal location for this event, with a spacious patio for our refreshments and auctions, great acoustics for our performers, and a stage large enough to accommodate the bands who performed and their gear. All our acts donated their time to this cause, to raise awareness and much-needed funds for music education and fully funding music classes in our schools. We are so appreciative of the bands and individuals who performed.
Special thanks for this event are due to Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity, and their women’s counterpart, Sigma Alpha Iota. The 15-20 volunteers who helped put on this event were professional, energetic, friendly and hard-working, and the event would absolutely have been a failure if they had not been there to help us.
The Directors of the Freesax Foundation wish to thank all the acts who performed and our corporate sponsors for their incredible generosity. Without the corporate support we received, our event would not have come close to the success it was. We would finally like to thank our supporters and attendees. Without your support, we would simply not be able to run this charity, would not be able to benefit music students, teachers, and programs, and would not be able to connect with our dad doing what he loved to do: build young people into great musicians.
