Students, Parents & Friends,
I am writing to invite you and your family, friends & neighbors to a very special Maplewood Music Studio Faculty Concert on Sunday, April 22 at 4:00. The concert will raise money for our Debbie Syzdek Scholarship Fund, which offsets the expense of lessons or classes for children of families in need. The fund honors the memory of Maplewood’s much beloved office manager from 2001 to 2008.
The concert will be at Germantown Friends School (31 W. Coulter St. – Yarnall Auditorium in the Sharpless Building). A reception will follow – generously & deliciously cater ed by Le Bus, as it has been each year! (Be sure to visit their new restaurant – Midvale & Ridge Aves. – it’s great!) There is no fixed price and there are no tickets. However, we encourage you to dig deep & give generously, in advance of the concert if possible.
This is our 10th annual concert for the scholarship fund! The first nine have been exciting, heartwarming and successful in all ways. Our audience, made up of music students & music lovers of all ages, thoroughly enjoys it – as do the performing faculty members. We look forward to another great concert on April 22 and we encourage you to bring your entire family and to please invite your friends & neighbors as well. Please let us know as soon as you can how many people there will be in your party. (It will help us to have a reasonably accurate count.)
Checks may be made out to “Debbie Syzdek Scholarship Fund”. You may also make your donations by phone (215-848-8353). We will accept donations at the door as well. Please bear in mind that contributions to the fund are not tax deductible since Maplewood Music Studio does not have charitable status, however you can rest assured that 100% of the money raised will be used for children who wouldn’t otherwise be able to take music lessons. Each year, I honor Debbie’s memory myself by matching the first $3000 raised.
Parking at Germantown Friends is easy. Going south on Germantown Ave., turn right on Coulter St. and then right into the 1st parking lot. Walk, inside the campus, toward the corner you just turned at. The Sharpless Building is the corner building. The recital is on the 1st floor and there are no stairs! There is also street parking.
If you want to see what the concert may be like, DVDs from the first nine inspiring concerts are available ($12 each + $2 for mailing, if necessary). Proceeds go to the scholarship fund. A DVD of this year’s concert will be available as well.
I thank you in advance for your support of this event and this fund.
Thank you!
– Rich Rudin
A Short Report
Since its inception in March 2009, we have raised a total of $52,247 for the Scholarship Fund. This includes all donations, payments for concert DVD’s and Rich Rudin’s matching funds.
58 students, age 4 through 17, have benefited from scholarships so far, many for multiple years. (The fund is for students under the age of 18.) There have been 28 boys, 31 girls. Scholarships cover half the fee for lessons or classes. Since the first award was offered in July 2009, awards have totaled $35,719. From now through August, 2018, $1020 is promised. This would leave about $15,400 in the fund for next year. We hope to be able to continue scholarships for current recipients who will need the help, while being able to offer help to new students throughout the upcoming academic year. Your help will make that possible.
Rich Rudin, Director