Leaders of “Ready 2 Play” in Jackson County, Ill. want to help more kids express themselves creatively. Volunteer Carolin Harvey said musical creativity is important to kids. “Music gives youth something to do, it occupies that time that they could be doing things they shouldn’t be doing,” said Harvey. That’s the reason Ready 2 Play provides free music lessons to kids in Jackson County.
“We are looking for youth to participate in the program but also volunteers for instructors,” said Harvey. Members of the organization are trying to build the program back up after they experienced a tragic loss.
“We started it and then we had a teacher who passed away suddenly so the program kind of hit a lull,” said Harvey. Ready 2 Play offers lessons with instruments like violin, piano, and most recently, drums.
“We want to make sure that our kids in our band programs and our school programs when they leave school, they have another mentor, another place to go, another interest to keep them busy to keep them occupied and to allow them to excel,” said Cervantez. Cervantez also said that the program is funded in a unique way. “To be able to take forfeitures from drug cases and be able to put those proceeds back into the community where they can do the most good,” said Cervantez.
