Licking Heights senior's Eagle Scout project provides instruments to band students in need
Licking Heights High School senior Lucas Gleim believes music is for anyone — regardless of their socioeconomic status.
For his Eagle Scout project with Troop 4141, Gleim is running a used instrument donation drive to benefit the Licking Heights band program. Any instrument is welcome, but brass, woodwinds, and percussion are of highest need.
Donations can be made at the following locations. Donations must be made by mid-August.
Pataskala Police Department, 623 W. Broad St. SW, Pataskala: Donations accepted Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Community members must tell the front desk employee they are dropping off an instrument for Lucas Gleim’s Eagle Scout project.
Shepherd Nazarene Church - Gahanna, 425 S. Hamilton Road, Gahanna: Donations accepted 24/7 in a secure drop box. The box is monitored by video surveillance and instruments are collected regularly by church staff.
If community members do not have any instruments to donate but would still like to support Lucas and the band, he is accepting monetary donations to fund instrument repairs, upkeep and additional expenses that may prevent a student from participating in band.
"These donations are really going to a good cause," Gleim said. "A lot of people play instruments in school and have those instruments laying around. It can be kind of hard to part with an instrument, but this is going to someone who truly needs it."
Gleim has been involved in boy scouting for most of his life, and his Eagle Scout project allows him to combine his passions for music and Boy Scouts. He joined the concert band in sixth grade as a trombone player and the Marching Hornets in eighth grade. As a sophomore, he was named a low brass squad leader, a position he still holds.
"Band is one of the biggest passions and pastimes in my life currently and it has taught me a lot," he said. "I’ve learned how to read an entirely different language — sheet music — as well as how to not only interpret it technically, but add my own feelings and experiences to that piece of music."
Gleim said he was moved by the amount of students living below the poverty line in Licking County and how many students he saw who had to quit band due to finances.
"With roughly three out of 10 students not being able to afford their own new instrument in Licking County, there is a need to provide the same and equal opportunity to enjoy and perform like everyone else," Gleim said. "I just want other students to share in my passion. I don’t want anyone to be pushed away because they weren’t blessed with the same opportunities."
For more information and to make a monetary donation, visit Gleim’s project website: eaglescoutinstrumentdrive.org.
Information submitted by Licking Heights Local Schools.
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Heights senior's Eagle Scout project provides instruments to students
