Oregon

"The joy of music should never be interrupted by a commercial."

 - Leonard Bernstein

Most of you know how much I love that quote, and I tend to use it differently from what the "maestro" probably ever had in mind :-)

Keeping that quote in mind, on Thursday I visited the Children's Cancer Association (CCA) in Portland, OR.  The CCA has many different programs that ultimately serve the same purpose:

When seriously ill children, teens, and their families need more than medicine, CCA's innovative programs create joy one moment at a time.

For the music related programs, their purpose is not about music therapy but simply about the joy of music.  One of their programs, which of course is what led me to them, is called MusicRx.  Some of you may even remember when I first found them - it was day 32 of my 37 days of giving (and we all helped them again during a previous challenge where I donated five musical instruments because of your support!).

So on Thursday I had the utmost pleasure of meeting some of the amazing people who work at the CCA.  There I learned about what makes their programs so special.  One of the things I absolutely loved was hearing about how MusicRx works in the hospitals.  They have these carts that their music volunteers roll around to kids' hospital rooms which are loaded with various musical instruments and technologies.  These carts allow the kids to listen to music, play music, and even record their own music that they can keep.  The music volunteers are there to either help the patients learn how to play music, or simply just experience music for the pure joy of it <3

You should definitely take a look at their site to learn even more about the other wonderful programs the CCA offers (and the many different ways you can help them help cancer patients and their families experience joy).  For my part, I donated additional musical instruments for their MusicRx program.  I was also very excited to learn that the CCA is also looking to roll out their programs to other hospitals nationwide, and hopefully this is something I may even be able to help with at a certain hospital in New York City!  Watch this space ;-)