Community foundations provide vital support to the community, with their recent grant to the Moorefield Middle and High School bands serving as a case in point.
“A lot of our instruments are in good working order,” explained Sara Vetter-Crites, who added “but the cases are torn up.”
Solid and sturdy cases provide the best protection for instruments, helping to defer the ever-expanding cost of replacement as long as possible. To replace the cases, both school bands launched the “Instrument Case Replacement Project,” then turned to the community to raise support.
“We applied for a grant to help pay for replacement cases that we’d like to purchase,” shared Vetter-Crites. That grant of $2,500 went to pay for half of the cases needed.
The Hardy County Community Foundation, according to its website “was established in 2008 with a mission to improve the quality of life in Hardy County by Connecting Caring People with Community Causes that matter to them most.” It serves as an affiliate of the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation as one of 900 serving local areas across the United States.
West Virginia enjoys the support of 23 such foundations.
The much-needed donation came after a successful year for both band programs. In March, Moorefield High School’s band competed at the Region IX adjudications.
As Vetter Crites explained, unlike in athletics, band competitions do not distinguish between larger and smaller schools in terms of student population. The Yellow Jacket band’s David took on a group of Eastern Panhandle Goliaths, including schools that are Class AAAA in athletics, such as Martisnburg and Jefferson.
Despite the powerful competition, Moorefield’s band outshined those from the larger schools, earning a rating of “Excellent.” Vetter-Crites shared that their performance on Sunday was “very good.”
The middle school band, she said, “is growing quite a bit.” Nearly 60 currently participate in the seventh and eighth grade, alongside “a good group” of sixth graders. Those in the upper two classes “did very well” over the course of the year.
The bands like doing well in competitions, but also enjoy performing in front of their home town in parades and other events. All the travel required for competitions and football games mean that the new cases will be put to excellent use as the programs continue to expand and improve.
