Gazette

MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE

Monroe Elementary School fourth graders Annalena Ruiz, 9, left, and Wendy Vicencio, 10, are all smiles after receiving new musical instruments during an assembly at the school Thursday, April 28, 2011. 28 new instruments valued at $24,000 were donated to the school by Fidelity Investments and The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation.

$24,000 donation gives Springs school strings to spare

April 28, 2011 11:17 AM

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T.D. MOBLEY-MARTINEZ

THE GAZETTE

To help:

Contact Thomas Fleecs, fine arts coordinator for District 11, at 520-2027, thomas.fleecs@d11.org to donate an instrument to the district music program. James Monroe Elementary also welcomes gifts of school supplies, clothing and other items. Call 328-7400.

The rowdy applause for “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” had trailed off Thursday morning and a man in a suit was talking to the third through fifth graders about Fidelity Investments.

Silence.

But when the stage curtain opened, a gasp rippled through the gym in James Monroe Elementary School. Twenty-eight brand new stringed instruments shimmered there as promising and hopeful as a department store window at Christmas. The instruments, valued at about $24,000, all sported green Fidelity ribbons.