LYNNWOOD — Kimberly Wise likes to find homes for unused musical instruments.
When she hears about a flute, drum, horn or violin that hasn’t been used for some time, she wants to put it in the hands of a foster child.
Wise and other volunteers with her nonprofit Hearts For Harmony collect donations of musical instruments for local foster children, a subject that’s close to Wise’s own heart.
Once a foster child herself, Wise was legally abandoned at the age of 12 in San Francisco. Moving from home to home over the course of six years, she found little support to further her interests or hobbies.
Wise, 42, began Hearts For Harmony to give foster children the opportunity to learn how to play a musical instrument. The nonprofit got its start nearly a year ago after she explained the idea to Bernard Anderson, the foster father with whom she has kept in contact for the past 27 years.
“When Kim began to talk to me about Hearts For Harmony, I really got excited about it,” Anderson said. “It melded both of my worlds: my love for children and for music.”
Wise credits Anderson, who lives in Denver, with helping her stay out of trouble.
“He takes ordinary things and turns them extraordinary,” she said. “He did that with me. I was an ordinary punk kid he helped turn extraordinary.”
Anderson said he was touched by what Wise wrote about him on the Hearts For Harmony Web site, www.heartsforharmony.com.
“Of course, I was very fortunate to have Mr. Anderson as a foster parent, he is extraordinary, and has helped hundreds of us foster children,” she wrote. “He is the type of man they make movies about.”
In high school, Wise spoke to other students about being a foster child. After she graduated, she spoke with adults who were interested in becoming foster parents. She worked with Anderson as a counselor in a San Francisco Bay area group home before moving to Washington 20 years ago to begin work with the green architectural firm McKinstry Co. in Seattle.
“I felt I had to make a choice between saving the world and making a lot of money and Bernard told me if you make good money you can do things in this world to change it,” she said.
Last year, the mother of two decided on one change she wanted to make.
She created Hearts For Harmony last March and started a Hearts For Harmony Facebook page to help tell others about the nonprofit. She contacted the Everett Symphony, partnering with the organization to take donations of used instruments.
Last summer, volunteers organized the first Hearts For Harmony fundraiser event at Eddie’s Trackside Bar and Grill in Monroe. At the event, musicians donated their time and performed while others brought donations of instruments.
One request the nonprofit has had so far was for a guitar for a boy awaiting a heart transplant. Hearts For Harmony took care of the guitar and he received a heart transplant shortly after.
“We were able to deliver a guitar to him and he just lit up,” said Dan Marcus, a volunteer from Edmonds.
Request for instruments, including the most popular requests of drums, guitars and flutes, continue to come in to Hearts For Harmony along with several inquiries about starting chapters of the nonprofit in other states such as Hawaii, Illinois and Tennessee.
Wise hopes music teachers throughout the Puget Sound area will be inspired to donate music lessons through her nonprofit.
“I know three foster kids in Lynnwood who have a drum set and all they need is a teacher,” she said. “Matching the instructor with the location of the child isn’t always easy. I would love for people to be on a list and when children in the area do need an instructor we could call them.”
Wise has other ideas, too. She would like it if one day, young musicians who received instruments from Hearts For Harmony could meet and give a public concert. Money raised through ticket sales could be used to fund their schooling, she said.
Despite efforts in the past year to get the word out about Hearts For Harmony, Wise said that she is still surprised when people say they’ve heard of her nonprofit.
“It was just a project,” she said. “I really didn’t know it was going to get this big.”
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491, adaybert@heraldnet.com.
You can help
Contact Kimberly Wise to donate unused musical instruments or volunteer with Hearts For Harmony at 206-255-0875 or kimwise@heartsforharmony.com.
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