BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— Lake Region Kiwanis donated a used trumpet and a $650 check to the KHHS band during the November meeting of the Friends of Keystone Heights High School.
Friends of KHHS was founded in 2020 to help support various programs at the school.
Now, the group is assisting the band by raising money and holding a used instrument donation drive.
“We’re putting out an all call for those with musical instruments that may have been stashed away in that back closet,” said Friends spokesperson Tina Bullock, “hoping someday they will play again.”
Kiwanis President Patricia Hatch brought a used trumpet to the support group’s Nov. 15 meeting as part of the instrument drive. She said she plans to also donate her own clarinet.
“I played it, my dad played it, and someone played it before him,” she said of the woodwind. “It has a history.”
Hatch also presented Band Director Justin Coker with a $650 check, obtained through a Kiwanis mini grant. Hatch credited Bullock with initiating the grant.
Coker told the group that the band completed a successful fundraiser coupled with a concert on Oct. 15. The event raised $635.
He added that the band’s next concert will be on Dec 3 at 6:30. The event will include dinner.
Bullock said community support for high school programs like the band is essential. She noted that band members at Fleming Island High School pay a $1,500 entry fee, and many Lake Region families could not afford to participate under such an arrangement.
Photo: Lake Region Kiwanis President Patricia Hatch hands KHHS Band Director Justin Coker a $650 check from the club. Also pictured is Friends of KHHS spokesperson Tina Bullock.
