The Voices for Voices Podcast Episode 15 with Guest, Kitrael Chin, Founder of Hearts For Music: The World's First Special Needs Orchestra
Justin Alan Hayes:
Hello, and welcome to the Voices For Voices podcast, where we discuss the triumphs and challenges of real mental health journeys. We give ordinary people a platform on which to share their unique perspectives about living with disabilities, experiences in healing and thriving with mental illness and more. Stay tuned for meaningful and eye-opening chats with me, your host, Justin Alan Hayes, as we share, listen, learn and love fellow human beings as they continue to grow and flourish in their own way. Today, I am grateful to be joined by Mr. Kitrael Chin, the founder of Hearts For Music, the world's first special needs orchestra. Mr. Chin, it's great to have you here with us today.
Kitrael Chin:
Oh, it's a pleasure, a joy.
Justin Alan Hayes:
For our listeners, maybe start with what Hearts For Music is, how you founded it and where we are, current state. So I'll just leave the floor open.
Kitrael Chin:
Oh, absolutely. Well, my name is Kitrael and I am the president and founder for Hearts For Music. And we are, as far as we are aware, the world's first special needs orchestra. And I for many years had a rock band group for kids with special needs. And I've been a music therapist for about, oh gosh, 20 odd or so years. And having worked with children with disabilities, I wanted to try and see whether I could create environments and experiences for them that they could be part of because a lot of them can't join or be part of mainstream traditional activities like school bands and that sort of thing. And when I started my rock band group, which included kids with and without disabilities, and I wanted the kids without disabilities to be able to see what their counterparts could do and to teach them the value of compassion and kindness towards others who are not as abled as they were.
Kitrael Chin:
And when I did that, I still found there're still limitations. If you had somebody who wanted to do drums but they were missing the fingers or they didn't have the motor dexterity to whack and beat the drums and that there were a bunch of problems, or a kid who really loved guitars and wanted to strum the guitars, but they're unable to quite hold up the guitar because they have got weak upper promoter skills, that sort of thing. And it bugged me for a while. And I had parents of a number of families come to me and say, we wish we had something that could happen that could include our child who is severe profound autistic, what is there that was able? And I was like, I'm not sure what we could do.
Kitrael Chin:
And even now today, most recreational activities, most social activities are divided into something for down syndrome. There's something for profound, there's something for mild Asperger's. Something for Asperger's, but there is very little in way of encompassing everybody. And so I came up with this mad scheme of, okay, let's see whether we can create something that could have everybody, every single disability under the sun, wheel chaired, able bodied, profound, mild. And so Hearts For Music came about because I saw when we used iPads with the kids, all they needed was skin contact. They just needed skin contact. It could be their toes, fingers, part of their head. But that just dawned me, we could reach out to a lot of people that way. And so in 2016, 2017, my beloved church, Hilltop Christian Church up in Mantua said, "Okay, we'll run your mad experiment downstairs in the basement." And I had five to six lovely, wonderful families donate me their kids to experiment on.
Kitrael Chin:
And I brought iPads, and they had cute keyboards that they could play. And they didn't learn music the traditional way. And I wanted something that they could pick up just like that, instantly without having to necessarily understand the theory of music or read music notes, because a lot of them just aren't cognitively able to do it. And myself included, I'm sometimes too lazy to read music. And so I wanted something that, okay, we can just do this right of the bat. So on iPads, we are currently using garage band and they will move their fingers up and down on the cord changes. So they're following the chord structures of the songs. And I overlay the melody of them and they just loved it. And we had kids that was just all over the place, like every single disability under there.
Kitrael Chin:
And then that group that was just such a variety. And I was like, "Wow, this works." And so it grew from there. And my goal has always been for them to be able to be on the big stage. I don't want them relegated to just the background or doing something where, for example, in the large traditional bands, they'll put most special needs kids on percussion instruments. Which is logical and a human sense, perfectly fine. They are able to whack drums and keep more or less keep a steady beat and it's easy for them to manipulate and control. I wanted them to get beyond that. And if they're on digital instruments, they will never ever sign out of tune, they just have to learn how to play together. And the wonderful thing, which what's happened October 10th, which you Justin, helped us bring about, was you managed to bring the Akron Symphony and persuade them to send some of their musicians over. And we had that lovely quartet come to play with us.
Kitrael Chin:
And the cool thing is, I don't think many people know about this, but they never rehearsed before.
Justin Alan Hayes:
No.
Kitrael Chin:
The idea was, can we get something beautiful with minimal rehearsal from them? And they played beautifully with the quartet, everything sounded just great. The kids had a great time. And for them to be able to play with professional musicians was just such a highlight of that day. And I am so grateful to you.
Justin Alan Hayes:
Oh yeah.
Kitrael Chin:
To Voices For Voices for that lovely opportunity because it just opened up huge doors. And so now, because of you, Akron Symphony and us, we're friends now, and that's been wonderful. And I really, really want to thank my board. We've got four wonderful members who've been with me since I started this. Rick Frato is my vice president. Marie Stehli is our awesome treasurer and accountant and bookkeeper. And Connie Edic is our secretary, who also happens to be the awesome secretary for Hilltop. So I roped her in on that one. And Andra Frato, who is Rick's wife, who came along for the ride. So together we comprise of the board and they're just wonderfully supportive of everything we do.
Kitrael Chin:
And like I said, we started the basement of Hilltop Christian Church. And the goal was to have different groups, different locations throughout Northeast Ohio. So like I said, one in Streetsboro, one in Hudson, one at Mantua, but every single group comprises of about six to eight kids. And I deliberately keep it small to preserve my sanity. And a small environment is always much more intimate, and they can convert... Excuse me, they can converse with each other, interact with each other.
Kitrael Chin:
And it's much harder with a bigger group, particularly with kids with disabilities. I can't quite give them the one on one attention if they're a lot of kiddos clamoring for attention. And so every group learns exactly the same thing. And that way, when they all get together for performance, there's no need for rehearse. They all just sit down literally and they just start playing because they know what we do.
Kitrael Chin:
So we started out with simple classical pieces like "Oh To Joy" and we have since gravitated to about, our repertoire currently consists of about 20, 25 odd songs ranging from Broadway to pop, to Disney and to classical. Our age ranges run anywhere from 60 years old, all the way, I believe our oldest is in her sixties. So there is no age limit. There is no disability limit in terms of who we will say no to. That being said, the tiny caveat is that, individuals who have, say, aggressive or unpredictable behaviors, they can still participate. I and the rest of the team just need to know what triggers them or what would need to be aware. So they can still participate, absolutely. We just need to know what triggers them or if anything we need to be aware of. But we don't say no right off the bat, but that's the only caveat for them. Other than that, everybody hop along aboard.
Justin Alan Hayes:
Yeah. You've talked a little bit about the growth and your vision. Can you just share how many locations you have now and then future aspirations of continuing?
Kitrael Chin:
Absolutely. Our core group is in Brecksville and when COVID came, it shut everything down. We were in the middle of opening a group in St. Rita's and we were there, I think for two, three weeks when the order came from on high to close everything down. So we were like, no. But in 2022, we currently have a group in Brecksville. We have a group at St. Rita's in Solon starting up and St. Mary's in Hudson has given the blessing to look into starting a group up with them. We have a lot of supporters and lovely families up in Mentor, up in the deep wood area. And they have opened their door, the developmental center over there and will it be Methodist church up there has opened their doors to us doing a group up in there in Mentor. So we're looking to hit on all those groups in 2022.
Justin Alan Hayes:
Yeah. So individually, for yourself, do you want to maybe talk a little bit about how you have a disability and really how that hasn't really stopped you? You've continued to perform at a high level. You continue to work with the organization and to really just give some motivation, inspiration to some listeners out there that may be thinking, "I can't go forward or this is stopping me." Can you maybe share some inspiration?
Kitrael Chin:
Well, I got a laundry list of disabilities and my wife has even a longer one. But to begin with, I am half deaf, I started losing my hearing when I was in my teens and we are not 100% sure why, but it appeared that there was a neuroma that was growing on a nerve that just gradually the left side of me just gradually got dimmer and dimmer and dimmer, and has gotten to the point where I really can't hear anything on the left side as much anymore. Right side is still functional. So I try to do everything I can to preserve my hearing, because I only got one side left. So it's funny when I put up headphones or in my band, they'll give me in ear monitors and I'm like, I can no longer hear in stereo and I can only use one side.
Kitrael Chin:
I started playing the piano when I was about, oh gosh, I was about seven or eight, and I was classically trained. And I had wonderful, wonderful teachers that took me through the years. And I didn't really become really interested in music until I was, I guess, about in my teens. And that's when I started really, really getting into that. And I too suffered from anxiety and large part depression because I knew I was different from other kids. I've got ADHD to boot, and I was on Ritalin for quite a long time to try and keep my focus and keep me from running away from my parents off into the busy market square, which happened quite a few times where I would just...
Kitrael Chin:
If you ever seen the dog, oh, I forgot the dog's name in the movie Up. And he goes squirrel and he just runs, focuses. That was me growing up. Where I was in the market and I'd be like toy, leave my mother and run over to the toy and look at that. My mother would be like, "Where did Kitrael go? Where did he go?" so I was frequently found in the lost and found, the section to be when I was growing up then. So God bless my parents for their patience with me as I grew up.
Kitrael Chin:
And as I got older, studies wise, I wasn't the best student. And I had difficulty focusing, getting good grades and that sort of thing. And I grew up in Singapore and I had... So my education all the way till 18 in Singapore. And I actually was in the military for two years because by law over there, every male is required to serve two years of military. The Singapore army follows the Israeli format for that. And after the military, I went to Canada to do my psychology degree. In great part because psychology intrigued me a lot because I wanted to see what made me tick, what made other people tick and what I could do about that. And as I did my psych degree, I was like, "This is cool. What can I do to control people?"
Kitrael Chin:
Well, just towards the end of my psych degree, I found out about music therapy and I was like, "This looks cool. I can use music and psych things to control people. That's great." And it's interesting because one of my papers, when I did my music therapy degree in Virginia, I went over to Virginia after I finished my studies at University of British Columbia in Vancouver. I hopped all the way from Vancouver, Canada to Virginia to do my studies in music therapy. And one of the things I did, which I think had the most profound impact of me was a paper I did on the relationship between music and suicide. On how lyrics impact the songs, not so much the melody, but the impacts lyric. You see groups like Judas Priest and other similar groups. And I was just so fascinated by that, how it could have a hold on that. And having my own struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts.
Kitrael Chin:
It's remarkable for me to see how, if you don't have that support, how do you survive that? And the thing is, majority of people with suicidal thoughts are among us more than you think. It's not so much people calling on the phone, the helpline saying, "I'm going injure myself. Or I'm going to fatally injure myself in a way." A lot of them will walk around thinking, well maybe if I just accidentally step out onto this pavement in front of moving traffic I'll die, but people will think it's an accident. And there were many times my life where I thought, well, I'm driving and been hurt by people or their words have cut me or my day just gotten from bad to worse to really hard. And I was just thinking, well, maybe if I just turned the wheel this way at 70 miles an hour, I'll crash, die, but it will look like an accident. So it's those tiny little thoughts.
Kitrael Chin:
And as I've come in contact with families that I've worked with, or the kids and adults I've worked with, you start seeing those things where there is not an overt cry for help, but you can see it that there is desperation, there is sadness and there's despair sinking in. And for me, I have my faith in Christ helping me, but there are many others that don't have that spiritual foundation. I was blessed to have that. And so I try to have that in the work I do. And for me, it's been one of the most rewarding things to lift families and kids out of that funk and see that smile and that fire rekindled in them.
Justin Alan Hayes:
Yeah. And to that point, I've had similar thoughts, unfortunately, throughout my years of, Hey, if I just do this, or if I'm not here, things would be better. And luckily, and through faith through... Well, really faith is really the thing really go back to. And that's the interesting part for our listeners who don't know how I even found Mr. Chin Kitrael, was at church. It's just a regular Saturday afternoon service at St. Mary's. It was during the pandemic so there was the physical distancing that was going on so less people are attending. And as I sometimes do, my eyes wander throughout the congregation and I looked to, I believe it was to my right and I saw an individual wearing a red shirt. And in the back of it said Hearts For Music.
Justin Alan Hayes:
And before I even thought about having Voices For Voices, the organization, I wanted to have an event. I thought I would have one event and it would include people telling their mental health stories and wanted to include music. And my mind was just starting to move the wheels that the hamster I guess, was starting to move on the wheel. And so when I saw, ended up being Mr. Chin at church after church that evening, I went home and I Googled and checked out the website, his organization. And I was just like, oh my gosh, you think about how people are put together in relation at certain times. And so if I wouldn't have attended church at that particular time, Mr. Chin wouldn't have attended that particular time, that particular day, if he wasn't wearing the shirt, all these things start coming into play.
Justin Alan Hayes:
And then from that, reached out, made the connection. And for several months talked through the process of, well, what can we do? How can we bring his orchestra in and be incorporated into the event with individuals sharing their stories. And so for our listeners out there, networking is huge. And you really never know when you're going to run into or meet somebody that is going to help impact you in a positive way. It might be something that happens today, or like in my situation, it happens several months down the road. But really thinking about the higher purpose, not just what I can do personally to benefit from a situation of how can I help others? How can I be and do something bigger than myself? And so, by being able to bring, not only Mr Chin's orchestra to play at the event, my thoughts went to, how can I help really level up per se, and potentially have professional musicians play with the special needs orchestra.
Just want to let you know about our upcoming Voices for Voices, A Brand New Day event, which is our annual gala event. It's on October 12th at 7:30. For those that are in the Northeast Ohio area, it's going to be held at the Canton Cultural Center and tickets are $20 and all the proceeds go towards the Voices for Voices organization, which is also a 501(c)(3). Dr. Jessica Hoefler is going to be one of the ... I call it the blockbuster speakers, but one of the three individuals that's really going to talk a lot about what she's talked about here with us today and really just that thought of A Brand New Day, kind of like with Piper's Key, of unlocking and setting her free, that's with Voices for Voices and with the brand new day event specifically.
You'll want to share experiences of real everyday people, not celebrities, just people that are going through and have gone through some traumatic things, whether that is mental health related, whether that is anything really traumatic. So it doesn't have to be mental health related. That's how I started the organization, but obviously as I'm learning and want to have a broader reach, that individuals with mental health challenges aren't the only individuals that have gone through traumatic experiences. So again, Dr. Jessica Hoefler will be one of the blockbuster speakers. We're also going to have Brian Laughlin, who is a lieutenant at the Twinsburg Fire Department. Then one of my actual former students, James Warnken, he is an online specialist with expertise and search engine optimization and data analytics and he's actually legally color blind. So he goes through certain software packages to be able to do the work for his businesses now. Even when he was my student at Walsh University, there were some I guess, accommodations, accessibility, things that he was able to do.
So really not only from a spectrum of age range, but from first responder to somebody in education, traumatic, male, female, that we are all going through and have gone through things and I really want with A Brand New Day is to talk about not just some of the tough times, but how the message of a particular mission and vision is living on and how it's touching and reaching and helping more people. So again, you can find out more about A Brand New Day at voicesforvoices.org, or you can go to Eventbrite, which is the official event platform to put events together, and you can search A Brand New Day and then you'll find the event tickets there. Then you can join us in person. We'd really love to have you and bring a friend, a family member, somebody that would like to be uplifted.
So it’s not just the speakers, we're also going to have a special needs band, RockAbility, going to be playing. So some real rock music. So some of these individuals are going to be playing real live instruments with some mentor musicians and everything from the music. It's all going to be played live, in person. We're not going to use auto tune like some of the music today, and even the singers, the vocals, are going to be done. So it's going to be a lot of fun. We hope you'll make plans to join us and you'll see more on this coming up on our social media pages, the Voices for Voices on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, wherever you consume content, as well as future podcasts.
Justin Alan Hayes:
So I reached out to several orchestras, the Cleveland Orchestra, Kent Symphony, Akron Symphony, and was able to, by luck, not sure how or why it happened. But I was reached out to by an individual at the Akron Symphony. They said they'd be thrilled to join Mr. Chin's orchestra and play. And so we were able to get four string musicians, a cellist, violist and two violinists, literally playing right next to and with at the performance. And so at the end of the day, take a step back and say, I wasn't doing things just for myself, I was doing it for the organization. But really at the end of the day, these individuals in the orchestra, the impact that had to be able to play with professionals, just with Four, the string quartet sets them up to have future communications and future partnership that's happening and lead to a news story that was done just recently with our Cleveland news outlet, WKYC. And just the interest that the community is having.
Justin Alan Hayes:
Those are things that yes, they happen partially because of the Voices For Voices event, but really including the community and a cause that is worthy, something that is uplifting when there seems to be a lot of negativity and a lot of craziness going on in the world. I really feel that I was able to hopefully do a small part in helping the orchestra be able to continue on. And so it's really a joy to be able to see the growth just from the time that I've met Mr. Chin to today as we get into 2022 with more opportunities for the orchestra to play more partnerships, more people being brought into the circle of Hearts For Music, to know about just the awareness of the organization. What the organization does, how they really give back to the community, how they include everybody. And I think that's something that hopefully our listeners can take away. If you want to jump in.
Kitrael Chin:
Yeah. And that's the thing too. We are not a religious organization, but one of our biggest tenants is love thy neighbor. And you see a neighbor everywhere. And that commandment is something that I want to create as part of that culture of the orchestra. Because the last time I checked, the mortality rate for humans was a 100%.
Justin Alan Hayes:
Yeah. Unfortunately we're not getting out alive.
Kitrael Chin:
And my goal is to try and keep that going for as long as possible. And when I first started it, I had the choice of being either a profit or a non-profit. And the question I wanted to ask was, what is a charity? A charity is an endeavor that you do to help others out of love for that goal that you're doing, whether it's for animals or it's for people, but it's a charity, which is love. And I think too many people forget that a charity is about loving without profit, it's loving without calculation. It doesn't matter if we only have $10 in the bank or 10 million, we are judged on how much love did we give without calculation, without thinking, okay, I'm going to do this for you, but you better scratch your back from me. And I never wanted to be that.
Kitrael Chin:
I wanted to be able to give help and be able to help without asking for things in return or expecting things in return, whether it's money or other things. And I wanted that to permeate my entire organization from me down to my board, down to the volunteers. It doesn't matter if we have people who come on board who are Buddhist, who practice Islam, or who are from the Bahai faith. I've met many, many people who are different faiths who are just wonderful. But you see, in every major good religion, that sentence, "love thy neighbor" runs through them. And so it runs through my organization and it is that thread that binds everything together. And so when we get together for rehearsals and sessions, our performance. One thing I tell kids, if we're not having fun, it's not a good day.
Justin Alan Hayes:
Yeah. True.
Kitrael Chin:
And I don't care if you guys don't play one single lick of music, but I would love for you guys to smile and have fun, socialize. And so far it's been a wonderful blessing for us in that respect, and God has been so good to us. And so, as we were given help freely, so too, we will give help freely to those who ask for it. And having met Justin, and it's been such a blessing to help him and for him to help us. And like I said, we're all neighbors in this, and we all have disability. There's not one single human being on this earth who does not have a disability, whether it's visible or invisible. And I'm reminded of that every time I work with the kids and adults.
Justin Alan Hayes:
Thank you so much for sharing that. Also for our listeners, you can be on the lookout in the future Voices For Voices podcasts. We're going to actually include some of the orchestra members for Hearts For Music. They're going to join me on the podcast and they're going to share in their own words how music makes them feel and how being part of Hearts For Music is just such a good feeling that they're able to spend time with the instrument, how the music makes them feel. So please be on the lookout for future Voices For Voices podcast. And as the name and organization, Voices For Voices, we are giving voices to everybody, anybody that has a story to tell. And I think that it's going to be a wonderful opportunity for these musicians to get behind a microphone, to just go through the recording of the podcast by itself, but then also be able to feel important, because we're all important.
Justin Alan Hayes:
We're all unique individuals. We all have differences that happen individually. And I just am very grateful that Mr. Chin is so open, not just about his Hearts For Music organization, but just individually. That sometimes it's easy to talk about others and describe situations. But when we talk about us as individuals of saying, Hey, I've gone through some rough times and every day isn't great. But here are things that have helped me through. And music really seems to be one of the biggest threads for you. So I guess I want to ask you, like I'm going to ask some of your musicians, how does music make you feel?
Kitrael Chin:
And that's part of the reason I became a music therapist. And I've had the privilege of working with kids, neo-natals all the way to end of life. And not many people know this, but I actually hold a certificate in hospice music therapy, next to kids, is my most beloved population to work with, is to work with end of life and care of the dying. And when I first started working with hospice, it was difficult because you get to hear their stories, you get to suffer with them as they approach the end of the life. And I think for me, one of the most profound moments was when I was in a room with a lady who was actively dying. She was nonresponsive, you could hear the death rattle in her throat. And I'll tell you, the first time ever heard of death rattle, that really hit home for me, what death was and how my own in turn death could be.
Kitrael Chin:
But one of the songs I played was, I believe it was Amazing Grace and my memory serves me right. And she passed away as I was playing that song. You could see everything just go suddenly still. And that was one of the most profound moments of my life. And as far as I know, the research shows that hearing is one of the last senses to really disappear or die out in the process of death, it's one of the last things. So it was so comforting for me to know that song, one of her favorite hymns, Amazing Grace, was one of the last things she heard.
Kitrael Chin:
And as I was leaving the room to informing the nurse that particular patient had expired, I met, I believe it was the daughter. She was running up the stairs, because she had heard from the nurse that your mother is actually dying, we don't know how long she has. And she was huffing, puffing up the stairs. And I looked at her and I just, I told her, "I'm sorry, but your mother passed away. I was in the room." And I told her what happened, that I played for her Amazing Grace. And she said, "Thank you. That was so awesome that somebody was with her and she got to play." And so hospice and the terminally ill hold a very, very special place in my heart for that.
Kitrael Chin:
I've had the privilege of working the entire life spectrum, essentially looking from births all the way to death, and it's really impacted the way I look at the kids I work with. Especially when I work with patients or clients, my goal is at the end of the day, have I done something to improve their self-esteem? Have I done something that enhances their life? Even if it's for the next five minutes. And I've told parents that I really don't worry too much about whether there'll be Mozarts or the next Eric Clapton and what they do. My goal is 20 years from now, can they come up to you and say, mom, dad, I'm doing something different, but I had the best time in my life. And I do have a joke that goes around, that I hope they come and play for me when I'm in a nursing home. I got somebody, that they'll come and play for me.
Kitrael Chin:
And eventually I know they'll come a point where I'm no longer to be able to play the piano for Hilltop or be their worship leader anymore. So I'm always constantly looking out for my successor in that respect like, somebody come take it over. Though my experiences, especially with the dying have shown me that we are all fragile, we're all broken. And there's so many stories that I've heard sitting at hospice that have profoundly impacted how I deal with adults and kids with special needs, because it really gives you a different sense of compassion for what they undergo. And so it's with great love that I remember them in all we do.
Kitrael Chin:
And it's easy to forget as your organization grows and grows. It's so easy to forget that, before you became a giant tree, you were once a little timely seed. And other people helped you grow, helped you till the soil made you fertile. And I never ever want to forget the people that helped us in the beginning, like my beloved Hilltop Church or the Kiwanis club in Mantua, who was our first donor. And when we got $500, we went from zero in the kiddy to $500. And you are our first donor, I have a picture of that first check. Yeah. And it's something that just stays with me. And I would like everybody and anybody to whack me really hard at the back of the head if I ever become too big for my britches and I forget those people that helped start everything in the first place, that I really hope never to forget.
Kitrael Chin:
We at Hearts For Music are so grateful for your support, not just monetarily, but your prayers every day for us. And ever since that story ran too, we've been getting wonderful donations for as far of ways places as Colorado.
Justin Alan Hayes:
Oh my gosh. That's awesome.
Kitrael Chin:
And just the other day was from Tennessee. So it was like, dang. So we are spreading, but we always want to remain small. I guess for me, a part of my fear is that we become too big. And then when you become big, it's difficult to give that one-on-one attention and that love to kids. And one thing I'm very fond of saying too, and I've told many people, you can train people to be anything. You can train a person to be a mechanic. You can train a person to be a secretary. You can show them the skills of the job, but it's really, really difficult, if not impossible, to train a heart to have love for what you are doing.
Kitrael Chin:
Most people will do a job or they will be loyal out of either what they gain from it in terms of profit for their bank accounts or profit for what they see as, okay, you can gain me access to this person or you can gain me access to this organization. And I want Hearts For Music to have none of those. I want them to be able to, for all our volunteers, all our staff, anybody who comes aboard, to be able to love a child or an adult or what they do because they love doing it even if there's no money coming that way. For a number of years I didn't actually charge a fee for what I did because there was some families that who had special needs kids and it costs a lot to raise a special needs kid.
Kitrael Chin:
They literally paid me in bananas and apples, literally food. But then as I was stuck in traffic, in a car, I was like, I'm hungry. And then I would look at the apple and I would bless God for giving me food that sustained me at that traffic jam. So that's why I want our organization to be a true charity, to do things because we love doing it and not just for material gain. And to all our supporters and our donors, I beg this of you, if you ever see our organization Hearts For Music, doing that, where we start becoming selfish, please stop donating. I'd rather our organizations starve and stop receiving donations than your donations going towards something that is becoming more self centered and something that in the end doesn't love or benefit our neighbor. And I'm so grateful to Justin, and to all their organizations who have slowly helped us build it up.
Kitrael Chin:
Who've given us advice and to make us where we are. And so looking forward to 2022 with performances out at Batina. We're hoping to come back to the Cleveland Airport because the Cleveland Airport was just so fun to be able to sit in the terminal, all the kids and play for all of passengers that passed by in the terminals. So we're hoping to do that again, 2022. And now with some of the restrictions being lifted, we're looking to performing at fairs and other big places. So please keep an eye out for us. Our website is www.heartsformusic.org. And we are a nonprofit 501(c)(3) and we are happily have been and will hopefully happily be that for the rest of our lives as far as we can go.
Kitrael Chin:
We accept donations in time, energy, and definitely your prayers help so much. So thank you to Justin and the Akron Symphony to Autism Speaks who supports us and all the organizations, which I apologize, I have a laundry list, but you can check them out on our website, on our list of sponsors and donors, and be part of what I hope will be a wonderful movement throughout the United States. So come and help us invade the world with music and love and spread across the US to start with, one state at a time.
Justin Alan Hayes:
Yeah. So beautifully said. And also, for our listeners out there, thank you to Mr. Kitrael Chin for the bumper music that we have on our podcast. So he was gracious enough for his time and talent to be able to put that together that we're able to use. So Voices For Voices-
Kitrael Chin:
I'm happy it doesn't drive people away. As long as it doesn't drive people away.
Justin Alan Hayes:
Oh no, it was my pleasure. It's great. And then also, if you're in the Northeast Ohio area around the holidays, you just want to put a plug in for your band.
Kitrael Chin:
Oh yes.
Justin Alan Hayes:
For what you need in the future.
Kitrael Chin:
I am so privileged that, and I said, I am half deaf [inaudible 00:42:12] and I am a semi-decent pianist and keyboardist, but I've been privileged to be part of First Snow, which is Northeast Ohio's trans Siberian orchestra tribute group. And Kevin Bennett and his wife Monique have invited me a number of years ago to be part of the little group in that garage, and we have grown to 12 people. And it's been a wonderful journey that they would let on a half deaf keyboardist to be part of that group and grow. So we currently have a live show at the Lion Lincoln Theater in Massilon, Ohio this Saturday at 7:30, tickets are still available. We were blessed to have three shows this year at the Robin Theater in Warren and the Palace Theater in Lorain. And we hope to come back next year with the bang too.
Kitrael Chin:
So come check us out at Massilon at the Lion Lincoln Theater, this coming Saturday, December 18th, be there be square. And it's coming to enjoy a rocking great start to the Christmas season and the Christmas holidays. And I want to really thank my First Snow family who have been such wonderful, proud supporters of Hearts For Music. We also grieved today to learn that our stage manager, Ed Crewman passed away. And he was just one year older than me, 51, 52, no 52. And he passed away last night so we're deeply, deeply saddened. And so we're dedicating our last show for the season to him this Saturday. So thank you all so much for your support. And we hope to see you this Saturday in Massilon.
Justin Alan Hayes:
Absolutely. I'll be there and looking forward to... I'll bring, as you mentioned, some ear plugs, so hopefully be loud of being up close, but looking forward to it. So I just wanted to, again, thank Mr. Kitrael Chin, founder, president of Hearts For Music for joining us on the Voices For Voices podcast.
Kitrael Chin:
Thank you so much, Justin. And thank you to all your listeners for enduring me, chatting with you all. And I hope to do it again very soon.
Justin Alan Hayes:
Absolutely.
Kitrael Chin:
God bless you all.
Justin Alan Hayes:
Thank you. This has been the Voices For Voices podcast. Thank you for joining us. Voices For Voices is a nonprofit group founded to provide a platform for folks to share their stories with others as we work to break the negative stigma around mental health and disabilities. This is a safe place where we can share ideas, passions, stories, and lift each other up through any and all challenges we may be facing. I'm your host, Justin Alan Hayes, an expert in workforce preparation, business professor, author, and career coach. I was inspired to create this nonprofit as a way to lean into my passion for helping others as I explored how to heal on my own mental health journey. Connect with us at voicesforvoices.org, where information and resources are available for you 24/7, along with how you can participate in upcoming events. Until next time, I'm Justin Alan Hayes, and we're so excited you're here.
Please donate to Voices for Voices, a 501c3 nonprofit charity today at: https://www.voicesforvoices.org/shop/p/donate
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