MUSIC 4 KIDZ works towards building the community through the sharing of musical interests with children who are in the hospital. What would you do if you were a child in the hospital? How else would you spend your time after watching hours of television and reading numerous books? For children in the hospital, it is hard to go out and buy CDs or even to purchase songs on iTunes!

Thus, I created the community service project “Music 4 Kidz,” in hopes of giving students the opportunity to share their personal musical interests with others. For the last two years, MUSIC 4 KIDZ has connected intermediate and middle schools across Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut with the children who are being treated at Baystate Children's Hospital in Springfield, Massachusetts. The CDs that have been created are kept at the nurse's station in the hospital and are always available for use by the children. Music 4 Kidz is now expanding nation-wide! This is how the project works:

1. Students in your school have the opportunity to donate $1 or more to be used to purchase their favorite song or songs.

2. The songs are then purchased on iTunes and burned onto a CD or CDs. (Depending on how many songs are donated)

3. Students are also encouraged to share their artistic talents by designing album covers.

4. The CDs are donated to local hospitals so that children staying in the hospital can listen to them. For more information, feel free to visit http://www.m4kidz.org

UPDATE: Music 4 Kidz has just been awarded $500 by Plum Grants! The grant will be used to: Involve more schools Fund mailings Create informational DVDs Improve the CDs visual appeal. Public Relations In order to increase participation, Music 4 Kidz is now listed on two online databases which match individuals to volunteer programs. They are www.volunteermatch.org, www.volunteersolutions.org, and www.dosomething.org. Hospitals Music 4 Kidz is now in partnership with Phoenix Children’s Hospital and Connecticut Children’s Hospital as well as Baystate Children’s Hospital.

NOTICE: All songs are legally purchased using iTunes music store. Apple Support states that: songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store can be burned to audio CDs and data CDs an unlimited number of times. However, each unique playlist can only be burned to an audio CD only 7 times.

First, students and teachers develop an interest in Music 4 Kidz from one of the organization's numerous listings on volunteer databases like volunteermatch.org, dosomething.org, and volunteersolutions.org. Next, students are given the opportunity to donate $1 or more to be used to purchase their favorite song or songs. Once the songs are purchased on iTunes Music Store, they are burned once and compiled into an assortment of CDs. At the same time, students are also given the opportunity to design album covers. Finally, the CDs are donated to local hospitals so that children staying in the hospital can listen to them.