UKULELE KIDS CLUB INC

Our ongoing goal is to help medically fragile children who might benefit from music therapy to have the opportunity of implementing music for wellness, by donating our ukuleles to pediatric hospitals and other treatment centers. Our long-term goal is to develop partnerships with every pediatric hospital with a music therapy program in the United States. Another long-term goal is to make sure the children who receive our donations experience a continuum of care, from the medical setting into the home setting by way of our UKC AT HOME program. Medical research shared by the American Music Therapy Association reports that music provides significant therapeutic benefits: assisting with pain management, decreasing the anxiety of hospitalization, and providing emotional support during medical procedures. The Ukulele Kids Club's programs are uniquely well-suited to share the benefits of music with children receiving the ukuleles by way of our affiliate music therapy programs.

To help kids cope, the UKC donates ukuleles to music therapists working in children's hospitals, treatment centers, outpatient clinics, community centers, and other places where medically fragile kids are found. The ukulele is the perfect instrument for this work: it is small, easy to play, and, are safe for use in a medical environment. Music therapists teach the kids how to apply music for wellness. The child is able to engage in an activity that allows them to cope with the treatment and express themselves creatively. The kids can even take the ukuleles home as gifts of music for life. To establish partnerships with pediatric hospitals, we have worked to increase the visibility of the Ukulele Kids Club, through mainstream media (news segments, newspaper and magazine articles), through social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.), and by word-of-mouth. Through strategic partnerships with passionate changemakers in the music industry, we aim to expand our network and invite those who understand the power of music, into our organization.

Going on its 8th year of operations, the Ukulele Kids Club has a strong and broad foundation of support. Our Board of Directors is staffed by 10 volunteers with experience in the areas of business, music, music therapy, education, and hospital administration. Day-to-day operations are overseen by Marlén Rodriguez Wolfe, Music Therapist & CEO, with the assistance of a Social Media Director, an IT Director, and additional administrative support. Community music groups and individual volunteers, total well over 100 participants around the country, are actively involved in sponsoring fundraising events and outreach efforts on behalf of the Ukulele Kids Club. We have several corporate sponsors who have generously supported our work with financial or in-kind contributions. We are also working to engage the interest of celebrity sponsors to help increase our visibility.

The Ukulele Kids Club's partnerships with hospitals have continued to grow at a rapid pace, so rapid that, at times, it is difficult to keep up with the demand. We started out with two hospitals in the Miami area. We now partner with 270 hospitals around the country. The accomplishments of the Ukulele Kids Club, even in this short amount of time, have been nationally recognized. In April 2015, we were featured in a Nightly News segment with Peter Alexander, which demonstrates the broad appeal of our mission and project. In April 2016, Corey was invited to be a TED Talk speaker (Coconut Grove), sharing the UKC's story through the very popular TED Talk venue. The value of our program has also been recognized by the American Music Therapy Association. At their Annual Conference in 2018, our founder Corey Bergman was honored with the AMTA Advocate of the Year Award for his contributions to raising awareness for music therapy.