St. Charles North senior helping to collect musical instruments for kids in need

The pandemic has made St. Charles North High School senior William Laskey realize how much he enjoys playing music.

Laskey, who is involved in the school’s music program and is a board member of the Tri-M Music Honor Society at St. Charles North, wants to give other the chance to get involved in music as well. The club is partnering with the nonprofit national organization Hungry for Music to collect instruments, sheet music and music equipment and accessories for underserved kids.

“Most of us have been raised in an area that we’ve been fortunate enough to be pretty privileged with what we’ve been able to have access to,” Laskey said.

Those who would like to donate can drop off their donations from 7:20 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the front vestibule at St. Charles North through March 26. They can also be dropped off between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. March 20 behind the St. Charles North music wing.

In addition, donations are being accepted at Hix Bros. Music, 1941 West Wilson St., Batavia, during regular store hours through March 25. Those dropping off donations will be required to wear masks at all locations.

Hungry for Music donated more than 1,200 music instruments to school and after-school music programs in 2019, according to its website.

Because of the pandemic, the Tri-M Music Honor Society at St. Charles North hasn’t been able to participate in as many community activities as it usually does.

“Every year, we’ve gone to play at nursing homes and people go caroling and we have students play in the school lobby as people are coming in,” Laskey said. “So there’s a lot of community-related things that we do every year, and with such a limited ability of what we can do this year, we tried to find something that is both music related and beneficial to the community.”

Laskey is happy that is able to play with his fellow classmates again.

“In the last week, we got approved to start rehearsing together,” he said. “We just had the first jazz band rehearsal in over a year. They have these new masks that go around like mouthpieces for instruments and then over the end so it blocks everything from coming out,” he said. ‘And we can only play for 30 minutes at a time before we have to leave and let the room air out. So it’s super restricted, but at least we’re getting to play a little bit now.”

He also is a member of the band Keep The Eleven, which released its first EP in July. Because of the pandemic, the EP was recorded entirely remotely.

The band’s latest album was released in January.