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Desert Business Owner Donates Piano to Local Nonprofit Organization
Mindy Reed, owner of several Palm Springs businesses, grew up playing the piano and owned one for several years.
“I remember growing up playing the piano and how much I would have loved to be able to play on a really nice, baby grand piano and how special that would make me feel as a kid,” Reed shared.
After enjoying hers for over a decade, it was now time to part ways.
“A friend of mine, Rick, approached me when I said I wanted to sell my piano and asked if I would consider donating it,” Reed continued. “I thought it was just a really great idea.”
And they could only think of donating the “King of Instruments” to one local nonprofit: Boys & Girls Clubs of Coachella Valley.
“My kids actually went to the Boys & Girls Clubs when they were children,” Reed shared. “I was a single mom and they needed somewhere to go after school. So it’s a place that’s always had some meaning for me.”
And for her friend, Rick Pantele, he said, “I couldn’t find a better place than this Boys & Girls Clubs. By doing so, by connecting people, you bring happiness, and that happiness develops into hope. We live in a world where hope is more needed now than ever before.”
So Thursday morning, the piano made its journey to its new forever home at the Heatwave Show Band studio in Indio, part of the Boys & Girls Clubs’ music program.
And it was free of charge, all thanks to the generous people at On Time Moving Services.
“We’re very grateful to help our community and provide any services that we can,” Adrian Ortiz, the company owner’s son, said. “By just doing this for free, we’re really helping the community. A lot of kids who are not able to have access to instruments like these makes us very grateful to be able to help.”
A community coming together to help spread the gift of music.
“Kids of ours have come out of this band and go on and do professional work in various aspects of the music industry,” Executive Administrative Director with Heatwave Show Band, Audrey Shuman, shared. “It’s stuff like this that keeps us going.”
“Generally, we get from what we didn’t have and we try to give from what we did have, ” Tony Williams, Director of Operations at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Coachella Valley, said. “It’s a gift that’ll continue to give.”
“A lot of beauty is going to come through it,” Pantele continued. “Don’t think you can’t be a participant and make the world a little nicer for other people. Just do it.”
Now, they plan to have the piano tuned and polished to ultimately get ready for big performances in the future.
For more information on the Boys & Girls Clubs of Coachella Valley, click here.
For more information on Heatwave Show Band, click here.
By: Carmela Karcher
October 6, 2022
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