Nottingham’s in Columbia Maryland has agreed to be the official starting point for the Ride for Music event. Nottingham’s will also be helping The Pick Me Up Foundation with several fund raising events in the future.
You can visit Nottingham’s online at: http://www.nottinghams.net/
At Play – Spring 2015
The Right Tune
When Brian Reed’s son Aaron died suddenly in January 2014, the family looked for a way to honor his life and his passion for music.
“We wanted to ask for some type of donation in lieu of flowers,” says Reed, a professor and chair of UMBC’s chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering department. “I realized I had never heard of anyone doing a musical instrument drive.”
The result was the Pick Me Up (PMU) Foundation, created in Aaron’s memory to provide musical instruments to underprivileged children, and named after a song Aaron was working on when he died.
After a strong response to a request for financial donations, Reed, his wife, Esther, and daughter Julia organized a drive to collect instruments. They ended up with over 250.
The foundation gives both donations and instruments to two highly respected music organizations (Hungry for Music and Music is Art) which recondition the instruments and choose the recipients. To date, over 200 instruments have been given to children and school programs.
The family plans a live music fundraiser as well as a charity bike ride from Baltimore to Buffalo, where Reed grew up and Aaron lived at the time of his death.
“Some of the musicians Aaron hung out with didn’t have the opportunities he had,” says Reed. “Our hope is that every time a child has the chance to learn and appreciate music, Aaron’s spirit will live on as well.”
– Eleanor Lewis
Community Roots is hosting Move The Movement Youth Empowerment Concert tonight from 6pm – 9pm at the University of Maryland in the Nyumburu Cultural Center.
Headlining the event is:
Javier Starks
DJ Mino
UMD Generics
Black Alley Band
& many more…
Brian Reed has been added to the Board of Directors for Music Is Art. See the full list of board members by clicking the graphic:
Thank you to everyone for coming out and celebrating Aarons life and donating to the foundation
Big thanks to Esther Reed, Brian Reed and Julia Reed for being strong through the hard times
And thank you to Shelby Dodson for organizing the event!
We are super excited for our fundraising event at Corner Stable in Columbia tomorrow. We have over 100 people that have said (via Facebook) they will be attending.
Note – you must print this flyer, bring it with you and hand it to your server tomorrow evening in order for 15% of your check to be donated to the Foundation.
We look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow.
CLICK HERE for directions to Corner Stable.
There has been an update to the fundraising event on February 21st: Almost a 100 confirmed guest! Corner Stable has agreed to actually allow the fundraiser to be in the entire restaurant, so feel free to bring your families for dinner and 15% of your check will go to the Pick me up foundation !
Learn more about the event here: https://thepickmeupfoundation.com/2015/01/21/fundraising-event-to-celebrate-aaron-reed-the-pick-me-up-foundation/
You can register for the event on Totally HoCo here: http://totallyhoco.com/event/fundraising-event-to-celebrate-aaron-reed-and-the-pick-me-up-foundation/?instance_id=4989
Over 200 instruments were collected as part of The Pick Me Up Foundation instrument drive. For every instrument donated, a raffle chance was provided to the contributor that gave them a chance to win a $100 gift card from Music and Art. The official drawing was completed on January 15th. Check out the video of the random drawing:
Congratulations to Mel W.
We want to thank everyone that donated instruments.
Hosted by Shelby Dodson
In loving memory of Aaron Reed and the amazing friend he was to everybody he met, we would like to start a new tradition of an event to help raise money and awareness to his parents charity: The Pick Me Up Foundation
On Saturday, February 21st at 5:00pm Corner Stable in Columbia has graciously agreed to donate 15% of your checks directly to The Pick me up Foundation. We will also have a table where you can donate independently.
The Pick Me Up Foundation hopes to spread the dream that Aaron lived. To provide those with limited access and resources to get the tools they need to compose music. The mission is to help underprivileged individuals live their dreams of becoming a musician.
For more info: Thepickmeupfoundation.com
For those who don’t already know, February 19th is Aarons Birthday so this is a great opportunity to celebrate what a wonderful friend, son, brother, cousin, and person he was.
Please help spread the word to all of your friends, the more the merrier, and it would be truly appreciated.
From Fox 5 News
COLUMBIA, Md. – Here is a follow up to a story we brought you earlier this year. It is the story of a family’s heartache. But they are creating hope for others out of their own loss.
Aaron Reed had an ear for music and a generous heart.
“He was always willing to lend an instrument out,” said his father Brian. “If someone didn’t know how to play an instrument, he got really excited if they wanted to learn how to play.”
Aaron died suddenly last February. He had been living in Buffalo, N.Y. Days later, his dad went to retrieve Aaron’s belongings, including his music equipment.
Brian Reed returned home to Columbia, Md. But someone broke into the van while it was parked in the driveway and stole everything.
Police never solved the crime.
“If anyone has them, drop them off tomorrow,” Brian said. “We’ll take them. No questions asked.”
Aaron’s family has started a foundation.
“The foundation is named after the song Aaron and his friends in Buffalo were working on called ‘Pick Me Up,’” Aaron’s father explained.
They are collecting used instruments.
“We’re going to have them reconditioned and put them in the hands of under resourced kids who wouldn’t have the opportunity to play music,” said Brian.
They will be collecting at Kings Contrivance Village Center in Columbia on Saturday.
“To take a tragedy and try to make something good about it is tremendously therapeutic for our family,” he said.
The foundation’s big drive is this weekend, but they want to keep the instrument donations coming in. In fact, they have teamed up with a business called Music and Arts.
“They’ve opened up their stores in Howard County, Arundel Mills, Ellicott City and Laurel to accept instruments,” said Brian.
They are proud that Aaron’s spirit will live on.
“I have a saying: ‘Eyes forward,’” Brian told us. “Look forward. What happened in the past can change. If it’s negative, it’s just going to be a sea anchor on your leg. So we want to look ahead.”
If you want to donate an instrument or help The Pick Me Up Foundation, you can find all of the information at thepickmeupfoundation.com.
Watch the video here: http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/27454522/md-familys-heartbreak-foundation-music-instruments-those-in-need
The Pick Me Up Foundation 