Congratulations to all the LHS Band members on a fantastic performance! Your perseverance is to be commended as I put before you some challenging music. The gratification of conquering a difficult piece is an amazing feeling. I look forward to working with you on some fun music for our last performance of the year. Let's make this next journey a super positive experience for all. :)

Scholarships, awards, trips, band camp, supplies, uniforms, repairs, etc.

The LHS Bands participate in a lot of events throughout our community. The bands require a many things to be successful, such as the items listed above. We have evolved over the years...reaching higher standards of performance with less. The "less" I'm referring to is monetary support. This leads us to fundraising.

Many members of our community support our efforts. The band is visible, successful and a draw for our students to stay at Lincoln. Personally, I have viewed us as a diamond in the rough. The under dog. Fighters to better our environment. Let me share my vision with you:

Lower your costs of band camp and trips. Increase parent involvement and increase student success.

Sounds like a tough job and many of us do not like asking people for money or selling items. However, let's work together to make this easier and fun! The executive board and myself are working to reduce our U of M commitment and increase our fundraising efforts elsewhere. We realize that money raised during concessions versus time is not efficient. A car wash (May) and fall event are being planned to test the waters of student, parent and community support. We will set a fundraising goal. Any excess funds will be a stipend in the students' accounts.

The formula is simple: effort = payback. Each student will be asked to contribute their efforts in some way. We have a pool of over 500 people to rally around these events. Our neighboring band programs are able to give back a "stipend" to their band members to significantly lower the cost of their travel. They can generate tens of thousands of dollars through their fundraising efforts. I know we can as well!