"Reach for the Moon" Challenge |
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Dear Olympic Strings Friends, After a tremendously rewarding week with our OSW campers, I headed up to Anacortes to visit my dear friends, Bill and Valerie Anders, who funded this inaugural year of our Olympic Strings Workshop. Why on earth would a NASA astronaut and his wife fund a music camp for students in Port Angeles? The story may surprise you. |
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Apollo 8 Crew: Frank Borman, Bill Anders, and Jim Lovell |
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In 1968, astronaut Bill Anders snapped this photo, Earthrise, from the capsule of Apollo 8. Seen around the world, people paused and reflected on their relationship with our home planet. Just two years later, Earth Day was launched and its environmental ideals inspired the creation of NatureBridge. Bill Anders served on the founding Board of Directors and today, his wife Valerie Anders serves as the Emeritus Chair of NatureBridge Olympic Board. All because of a moment when humans set out to explore the moon, and instead discovered the Earth. |
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The "Valerie" cabin at NatureBridge. When Bill and Valerie came to hear me perform the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Port Angeles Symphony in 2018, they took me to NatureBridge and I immediately fell in love with the setting. It brought back memories of the best summer of my life, immersed in music at Interlochen Music Camp, and I felt inspired to recreate the thrill of "music with friends in nature" for other young musicians. |
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"Reach for the Moon" Challenge |
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We are tremendously grateful to Bill and Valerie Anders for believing in our camp enough to support us with a generous matching grant of $15,000, and thanks to many of you, we are more than halfway there. Please help us “reach for the moon” to secure the full matching grant by November 30 with a tax-deductible gift of any amount to our scholarship fund. With your support, we can keep the music alive! |
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Founder’s Circle This year only, you can become a lifetime Founding Member of Olympic Strings Workshop with a donation of $1000+. | | |
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Thank you for your support! Monique Mead, Co-founder and Artistic Director |
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