Kelly’s Violin

2020 has been a year of full of cancellations, full of nos, and full of loss. With all of the darkness this year, we wanted to share something really special happening at right now at our Family Village shelter.

6th grader Kelly started her beginning orchestra class this year. But Kelly didn’t have a violin, so we coordinated with our friends at Oregon Symphony who procured a violin for Kelly to practice on.

Our Shelter Coordinator, Steve, shared the experience of giving Kelly the violin:

“Kelly received her violin this morning, and she was absolutely beaming. It was so wonderful to see. We talked about how an instrument becomes like part of your body and how music is connected to math, nature, and how all things are intertwined. She said she felt like music is a great way to express her emotions in a safe and positive way. She is so excited about her orchestra friends and believes they are friends she will treasure forever.”

In addition to finding Kelly a violin, we needed to find Kelly a quiet and safe place to practice. This wasn’t an easy task in a communal living shelter during a pandemic, but our covid-19 task force collaborated and was able to find her a private room three afternoons a week. One of our Shelter Coordinators, Chrissy, is even giving her weekly lessons.

In a world full of so much stress and division, these are the conversations going on at PHFS – talking about where Kelly can play her violin.