Where
Music
Begins
Moon teenager
collected, cleaned
and donated
nearly 35 musical
instruments as
part of his
Eagle Scout project.
E
agle Scout projects by definition are required to help a
school, religious institution or community. Typically,
they result in a fundraising endeavor like a haunted house or a
building project in a community park. Moon Area senior Eric
Tedeschi, however, had a different idea.
Eric wanted to share his love of music with others by
organizing a donation drive for instruments. By writing
messages on Facebook and Twitter and posting fliers around
Moon Township, he was able to promote the project to a wide
and receptive audience, resulting in a sizable trove of collected
instruments.
Between November and January, Eric collected about
20 acoustic guitars and 15 other instruments, including an
electric bass and a piccolo. He cleaned the instruments then
delivered them to Pittsburgh Gateways, which will distribute
them to at-risk kids.
Pittsburgh Gateways provides strategic planning,
development and direct management assistance for
communities, community-based economic development
organizations, research and academic institutions, and
private entities seeking the acceleration of technologybased businesses. Its overall goal is to combat community
deterioration in the City of Pittsburgh and other economically
distressed areas of Pennsylvania.
The project took about 40 hours to complete and Eric also
gave a presentation to his Scout troop about the care and
maintenance of musical instruments.
“I wanted to get music to kids who might not have the
opportunity,” he says. “Music is a universal language—it’s
something everyone can understand and bond over.”
Eric has been active in scouting and music since a young
age. His father was an Eagle Scout and encouraged him to join
the Cub Scouts. Eric received his Eagle Scout rank in March
and says it was a great accomplishment.
“I’ve been working at it since the third grade,” he says. “I had
a great sense of pride and my dad was ecstatic.”
Scouting has had an important impact on Eric’s life because
it has helped him make moral and ethical decisions. “As corny
as it sounds, it has influenced me to do the right thing,” he
says. “It’s really influenced who I am.”
He’s also made a lot of good friends and has had many good
experiences. A canoe trip in northern Minnesota is one of his
favorite memories. The scouts covered 50 miles in five days
Eric and some of the
instruments he collected
for at-risk kids.
Written by
Paul Glasser
Photos courtesy of the Tedeschi family
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