Sing Me Home - Outreach Programs with Dulcimer Music

I have begun a wonderful journey of outreach programs for underserved/compromised communities in an urban setting. Working with Calvary Episcopal Church in downtown Memphis, I began the first steps by providing calming, meditative music during the mealtimes for the Room at the Inn ministry. Homeless families are given housing at night at a variety of churches during the winter months when temperatures are low.

The program has expanded to include music for Lives Worth Saving, a program that helps women caught in a cycle of prostitution to be introduced to options for other employment, as well as for The Hospitality Hub, a resource for homeless and underserved people in downtown Memphis.

Below is a video that was taken during one of the Room at the Inn events in February 2015.

Donations to Memphis Dulcimer Gathering, Inc., are tax deductible and will help expand these programs. Please consider including Memphis Dulcimer Gathering, Inc., in your plans for charitable giving. Send checks to PO Box 224, Moscow, TN 38057 or call 901-877-7763 for more information.

Beginning in early 2015, MDG, Inc., began a new outreach program titled Sing Me Home. We have been working with Calvary Church in downtown Memphis to create a program of dulcimer and folk music for underserved urban communities, including the homeless and those rescued from sex trafficking. The current focus is providing live, meditative music for events, usually meals, with a goal of adding workshops in the future. Your help is crucial to the success of this program. Any amount that you can donate is tax deductible and will go directly to support Sing Me Home.

Room at the Inn is a cooperative program of various Shelby County churches which provides housing for homeless families during the cold winter months, along with a nightly meal. While many of us are accustomed to having music, live or recorded, during our meals at restaurants, the men and women who share shelter and meals with Room at the Inn are fortunate just to have something to eat. They loved having music played while they ate and visited with each other and with volunteers.

In addition, approximately twice a month, music is provided at the Hospitality Hub, a resource center for homeless and for those looking for employment. The visitors have access to computers, phones, lockers for their belongings and counsellors to help them create resumes, make connections for job interviews, and a variety of other services. While the participants sip coffee and wait for a counsellor or their turn at the computer, they are given a live performance of meditative music.

On one occasion at the Hub, Sheldon stopped to talk with me about the music. He was a great singer and had been offered a recording contract when he was shot in the back during a carjacking and spent the next several years recovering. We sang You are My Sunshine together and the visitors that day were so happy and supportive.

Lives Worth Saving is a program that helps those affected by sex trafficking find better lives through counselling, job programs and safe housing. This is a project involving scores of volunteers from Calvary Church, the judicial system and the police department. Volunteers and victims of sex abuse meet for education and a meal. Live music provided during these meals adds to the ambiance and community of the meeting.

No matter where you live, you can contribute to and support these types of programs with a tax-deductible donation.

Federal Express and many other employers allow payroll deductions for donations to 501(c)(3) organizations. You can choose for your United Way or other charitable payroll deductions to be sent to The Memphis Dulcimer Gathering, Inc. Please consider making The Memphis Dulcimer Gathering, Inc., your charity of choice when making your payroll deductions.

Direct contributions are welcome by mailing a check to MDG, Inc., PO Box 224, Moscow, TN 38057.

Your donations go directly toward promoting dulcimer and folk events in the Memphis/West Tennessee/North Mississippi/Eastern Arkansas area, including Sing Me Home, hosting traveling musicians in the area, as well as events at local libraries, nursing homes, churches and schools.