Music has been a big influence in Junior Sarah Kolling’s life since she was in first grade, so when a pastor from Haiti came to her church and expressed his desire for getting more music in Haiti, she knew this would be an opportunity to help something bigger than herself.
“I am doing this project for my Girl Scout Gold Award, but the project is really on my own,” said Kolling. “I started this in the August of 2013 and I will be traveling to Haiti in July 2014 with about ten others and we will be delivering the instruments and teaching music there.”
On January 11, Kolling hosted a pancake breakfast at the River Inn to raise money to buy instruments. Through the breakfast and other donations she raised about $2000.
“I’m so grateful for the generosity I’ve experienced,” said Kolling, “l get random emails from people I’ve never met that say ‘I have an instrument for you’.”
Kolling is now preparing for her trip coming up this summer and anticipating what will be waiting for her when she gets there.
“Right now I’m in the process of planning out what I will be teaching in Haiti,” said Kolling. “I will be teaching a recorder unit with kids in an orphanage. They won’t know how to read music at all and it will be interesting teaching because the people there speak Haitian Creole. I’m excited to see where this adventure will lead me.”
