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Program is a sound investment

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE

dlwhite@tampatrib.com

Published: May 24, 2009

BRANDON - Somewhere there is a youngster with the talent and ambition to become the next Itzhak Perlman, a virtuoso on the violin. But he comes from a low-income home and doesn't have money for a violin or music lessons. He'll never know he has a gift for music because he'll never have the opportunity to discover it. "As a result, the world will miss out," Glen Schubert said.

That's why Schubert and partner Shane Raburn founded Instruments of Change. They plan to rescue forgotten instruments from attics and closets and give them to underprivileged children.

Schubert said children who play a musical instrument are more likely to graduate from high school and less likely to be involved in drugs and alcohol. But with school arts and music programs being cut, fewer children have the chance to learn to play an instrument. Raburn and Schubert have teamed with the Metropolitan Ministries Charter School in Tampa for a summer pilot program. If successful, they will spread it to other programs for at-risk children.

They need corporate sponsors, volunteer music instructors and used instruments. For details, call (813) 315-9762 or visit www.instrumentsofchange.com.

D'Ann Lawrence White

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