On December 14, 2016 a Hohner-sponsored Harmonikids session at Nemoirs Children’s Hospital brought healing joy to child patients and members of their families. It was a fun and delightful session starting with a concert in which I played and the children sang along. Afterwards all attendees were amazed and thrilled with their new talents when I taught them to accurately play several songs - including holiday favorites Jingle Bells and Silent Night - on their new Hohner-donated instruments. The attached photos and note of thanks from specialist Sara Naramanian say everything about the special joyful benefits the kids received that day.

On Nov 18, 2016 a Hohner-sponsored Harmonikids session at the Diamond Children’s Medical Center in Tucson, AZ brought healing joy to child patients and members of their families. It was a fun and delightful session starting with a concert in which I played and the children sang along. Afterwards all attendees were amazed at the speed and accuracy in which they learned to play four songs on their new Hohner-donated instruments. The attached happy “harmonica-heart” image of one of the child patients and specialist Sarena Rivera’s note of thanks say everything about the joyful benefits the kids received that day.

On October 24, 2016 I provided a Hohner-sponsored Harmonikids session to the Stoney Nation children at the Chief Jacob Bearspaw Memorial School . Nestled in the Canadian Rockies on the Eden Valley Reserve in Alberta, the school is named for Chief Jacob Bearspaw who signed a treaty at Blackfoot crossing in 1877 as head chief for Bearspaw Band. The Indigenous youth in the area face many challenges in their development. They are at risk to substance and alcohol abuse as well as domestic violence.

On August 13, 2016 I provided a Hohner-sponsored Harmonikids session at the SPAH (Society for the Preservation and Advancement of Harmonica) convention in San Antonio, Texas. The session was coordinated with the help of SPAH president Michael D'Eath and SPAH member Greg Jones benefitting children from humanitarian organization "SA Heals". From their website, "SA Heals is a faith-based non-profit with a mission to restore health and wholeness on San Antonio's Eastside" fighting "abuse, disease, hunger and poverty - one child, one school, one neighborhood at a time." Their mission "focuses on the children with a holistic approach to educate, encourage and empower them."

On July 26, 2016 I returned to provide a Hohner sponsored Harmonikids session to the Ferris detention facility in Wilmington Delaware; a full-security juvenile facility for boys whose mission is to “provide educational and therapeutic services to adjudicated youth in a safe, staff-secure and gender sensitive environment preparing them for successful re-entry into the community.” Over the years Harmonikids' ongoing programs to assist the youth at Ferris have become among my personal favorites because the participants (many of whom have been neglected, abandoned, and/or abused in their young lives) receive much-needed self esteem and confidence from the experience. In addition, I spent much of my adolescent years just a few miles from the detention facility and under different circumstances I could have easily ended up there myself.