Harmony4Kidz

Hi everyone,

here is a great article that was just written about Harmony4kidz and I wanted to share it with you all!!!

Please read:

Harmony4Kidz

The unifying power of music

Can one song really make a difference in the life of a child? It can if that song sparks the vital inspiration and dedication needed to be a champion for children. Landmark graduate Irena Hart wrote such a song that inspired her to launch an initiative to enrich and improve the lives of homeless youth.

While planning a music event in Central Park, Irena encountered a group of children eager to spread the word about the concert. To her surprise, 200 of these children were homeless. These children were talented yet invisible, strong yet alone, and independent yet in need. This chance encounter left an impression on Irena that would take her down a path that would not only change her life, but the lives of children.

The day after the Central Park event, Irena awoke with a song in her head and a purpose in her heart. She wrote “Save the World,” a song that, along with her participation in a Landmark program, became the catalyst for using the gift of music to enrich the lives of underprivileged youth. The journey led to the creation of Harmony4Kidz, an organization that advocates for music education for children in the tri-state area.

The organization believes in “Three Cs”–Community, Care, and Children. Through the unifying power of music, Harmony4Kidz in partnership with other organizations and businesses, provides musical instruments, music lessons, housing, and shelter for homeless young people. The “Harmony4Kidz Fund” was developed to support creating essential programs and two shelters: The Union Square Center and the Bridgeport Center.

Irena’s vision extends to a music camp with programs that teach kids how to take old broken instruments and rebuild them. She says that will be good for the environment. “Harmony stands for three things—music, peace, and being in harmony with the environment. So we are building on not making more junk for the planet—we want to teach young people how to be innovative, creative, and not want to be on the streets.”

The organization uses public music events and gatherings to raise awareness, cultivate community, and bring a message of peace. The goal is to empower homeless youth in a way that inspires and cultivates change, to mentor young people and encourage them to go to a college, possibly music college, and learn new skills that are enriching for their lives. Irena puts it this way: “When you really believe in them, all their gifts come out and you see them develop into amazing citizens and contributors.”

I hope you can donate something on the site because all the donations will go to the Harmony4kidz Fund

and will stay there until the H4K shelters are built and also for scholarships to colleges.

Thank you so much for all your support,

Love,

Irena

Hi everyone,

Harmony4kidz has a new webdesigner, Pat Creedon.

She is awesome.

She fixed our donate button.

http://www.harmony4kidz.org/contribute.php

she will be making updates - we love her!!!!

Please give what you can.

It is a worthy cause.

Will be updating you soon.

Have the recording studio set up - with state of the art recording equipment,

I Mac, awesome sound system and Pro Tools.

Will be working with some kids starting in the Fall.

Thank you so much for all your comments too.

We have to approve 35,673 - need to find an intern to do that.

If you know of someone please contact us at

info@harmony4kidz.org

Thanks again - we can’t do this without your support!!!

Happy Summer!

Irena

Dear World!

Starting today 1-11-11 and going forward we are going to sing

All You Need is Love by The Beatles every Day at 2pm NYC time

Would you Please Join us in this effort.

We need all of you because our goal is by 2012

to have everyone everywhere singing at the same time the same song.

That would be the most amazing Harmonizing 4 World Peace ever

and I am sure that it will cause a vibrational shift for our planet into the next ocave

of Love, Compassion and Harmony.

Please join us.

Leave us comments

Thank You,

we need each and every one of you to make this possible.

Love,

Irena

Hello World,

It is great to be writing to you all again.

Thank you for all your posts and for visiting our blog.

We have many plans for 2011

One is to continue with our Fix it and Gift it musical instruments program.

So far we have a cello and a clarinet but we are just starting this program so

we will keep you posted.

Also we just finished out plans for 2011 and would like to create a Harmony4kiz Recording Studio,

a H4K CD and a music video

We are also going to plan another summer tour- to select cities and with more  visits to schools

(We learned on the 2010 Tour that visiting schools is very important for us as far as raising awareness.)
We also want to update our website.

Right now this blog is the only way we can add anything new to our site and the only way to get

any donations is via snail mail

Harmony4kidz

P.O. Box 1172

Southport, CT 06890

We are creating a few foundations

1) college fund

2) summer camp fund

3) music and art lessons fund

We are looking at the New York Film Academy for their summer camp programs for teens and

all their programs.  Their 2011 Summer camps will be held right at Union Square and if we have

enough financing we can start to put some of the homeless teens thru that program, as well as

some of our other programs that we are developing.

So as we turn 2 on January 23, 2011, Harmony4kidz is starting to walk (and like any 2 year old)

we will have our good days and our bad days - but we will keep you posted on here

monthly.

Please visit our facebook for all the pics from the National Tour that I just uploaded on New Year’s Eve.

I wish you a happy and prosperous 2011

Your support is greatly appreciated.

We are looking for interns to maintain this blog and for volunteers who can help us make Harmony4kidz

website look like www.irenahart.com website.

That website is easy to maintain and to upload pictures to.

Anyway.

We promise to do a better job documenting our growth this year. We will take more pictures, more videos

and tell you more stories about what we are up to and how we are making a difference in our community and in yours.

IF you have any helpful suggestions, either comment on here or send us an email to

info@harmony4kidz.org

or to me personally at

irena@harmony4kidz.org

again Happy New Year to you all

Much Love,

Irena Hart

Hello Fans, Friends, and supporters of Harmony4kidz,

I have been reading and approving all your comments more frequently lately and would like to respond to some of them here:

First of all, feel free to use any of the information on here or on the www.harmony4kidz.org for your reports

and for anything that would benefit the greater good.  Harmony4kidz was created because there was a need that I saw when I met the homeless kids in NYC. Since then we have done a lot of work growing the organization and finding ways we can make a difference with our resources, talents, and our intentions.

My background is - I was born in Kiev Ukraine, moved to USA when I was 12. I am an only child. I have lived in Connecticut ever since and studied Mechanical Engineering in college, then went on to be a Mechanical Engineer for about a decade - during which time I have acquired about 10 patents in my name.

In 2000, the year my daughter was born, I started writing poetry and later learned how to play the guitar.

I re-invented my self as a singer/songwriter and did a lot of writing and performing in local coffee houses in the area from 2003 to 2006 -that was the year I found the kids in Union Square and wrote the song Save the World.

That really moved me into another dimension… Now I have a bigger promise to fulfill on. I could see how I could apply my  talents and be of service to so many who are in need. (something I enjoy doing is helping others)

The reason for me wanting to help other people, is not because I am the next “Mother Teresa” but because it gives me a feeling of a purpose in the world.

I had some difficult times that I had to overcome back in the year 2000.

I feel that my life started over again and that I got a second chance and a new life.

So I have dedicated my life to being of service.

In 2008 I realized that part of my promise for the world it that I have dedicated my life to transforming the world thru positive music.

The only reason I started writing songs or poems in the first place is because I was in a very dark place and needed to find a way up and out and I did it thru reading spiritual books - these books were the only ones I was able to read ( after not being able to read anything for years) and not only that but I would retain all the information in these books as if I knew the subject matter before I even read the books.

The books I am referring to are

Return To Love

The Power of Now

Conversations with God

The 4 agreements

The Alchemist

Sacread Contracts

and many many more along those same lines and written by some very powerful positive thinkers of our times.

I also took the Landmark Forum in 2005 and proceeded to taking many many more seminars and courses in

Landmark Curriculum.

This has accelerated my growth and development over the past 5 years to where I am today.

I still feel that there is a long way to go.

I still don’t have all the answers on how to solve teen homelessness, or how to create Harmony in the world or how to grow Harmony4kidz to its next level, but I see a few steps I can take that are right in front

of me, and I am doing everything I can to do that.

In that respect I am unstoppable and I will fulfill on my promise slowly by surely - one step at a time.

I am delighted that many people are visiting our blog.

If any of you are so inclined, feel free to send your donations and contributions to

Harmony4kidz

P.O. Box 1172

Southport, CT 06890

100% of your donations will go  to Harmony4kidz because our overhead is very low.

We are committed to making a difference in the lives of homeless teens and their families.

Our next focus is in creating more scholarships to summer camps and creating some scholarships to music and art colleges. We are also developing some music programs for local shelters and will be accepting broken instruments that we can have them fixed and given out to children who can’t afford to buy them over the holiday season.

Please keep visiting our website and our blog and if you could donate some money - one of the things on our wish list is a Harmony4Kidz CD for 2011 of us working with some of the homeless teen artists - and have all the proceeds of each song go to that artist by creating an iTunes account for him or her and by providing them with the support and guidance to take their music or art career to the next level.

Thank you again,

Peace, Love and Smiles,
Irena Hart

www.irenahart.com

please visit my fan page and feel free to add it to your favorites.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Irena-Hart/80005989120?ref=ts

www.therockstarexp.com

Dear readers,

I am really at a loss for words - I just approved about 400 comments and there are another 600 or so to go…

which i will read personally and approve - unless they happen to be spam.. which there are some every 20 comments or so..

I am so happy that most of you find this helpful and informative.

Some of you have asked if you could post a link to Harmony4kidz Blog on your website.

Harmony4kidz would greatly appreciate it!!!! so Thank You in advance.

The more people find out about us the faster we will grow and will be in a position to transform

more lives of those who are on the street, homeless teens or homeless families with children that

can’t afford to go to a summer camp or to take guitar lessons or could afford to buy a musical instrument or go to a music or art college. Harmony4Kidz is determined to transform lives by taking these kids off the streets and support them in their growth and development in the arts and music.

I am watching Glee right now and see a commercial about American Express project that is so similar to what we are working on it is called www.membersproject.com

I checked them out last week and I will call and write to them and seek assistance for what we are up to for 2011.

I will post a different blog and will tell you guys all about our 2010 National Summer Tour.

We learned so much and accomplished so much.

One very important point we realized in Jackson Wyoming is that non-profits are like children, so

Harmony4kidz will be  turning 2 January 23, 2011. So we are not quite a toddler and as such need a lot of TLC.

TLC is what I promise I will give to this wonderful and promising organization.

Not only do have we found a niche - summer camps and college scholarships, we can also provide an

outlet for many volunteers to assist kids and families in shelters with music lessons, math tutoring, and any  other attention that young people living in shelters may require.

People can donate broken instruments to us and we can fix them and give them to kids or young adults who can’t afford them - and have homelessness in their history, and also we can offer them music lessons, vocal lessons and the ability to write, record their music and even make a music video thru

www.therockstarexp.com  - we are now able to create fundraising events where we can auction off

The Rock Star EXP and raise money for the cause.

we are also going to raise money to offer scholarships to transformational seminars that I personally have been taking since 2005.

I promise that I will write more often.

I really do appreciate your comments, keep them coming.

if you know of anyone who can send us any donation, we would greatly appreciate it.

We are raising money so that we can update our website and post some important links

as well as write about our newest members and volunteers, as well as about the success stories

about some of the teens that have benefited from all the work we have been doing.

Make checks payable to Harmony4kidz

and send to

Harmony4kidz

P.O. Box 1172

Southport, CT 06890

you can also reach me at irena@harmony4kidz.org

or you can email our general mail box at info@harmony4kidz.org

We would love to hear from you and answer any questions you may have about the work we are doing.

When we can, as soon as we raise the money for our next year we will fix the donate button on our website.

please visit us there often  to see what we are up to.

www.harmony4kidz.org

Peace, Love and Happiness,

Irena

Dear Friends,

So much has been happening for Harmony4kidz since I wrote to you last.

The biggest update is - that one of Harmony4kidz young people will be

getting a scholarship to a summer camp - we are working on that right now

and will be making some announcements.  We are contacting many camps

in order to set up schollarships for the summer of 2011 but we are still

pushing for more kids to go to camp this summer coming up.

The camps will not be sleep away camps but H4K is proud of making this

start.

We are also officially registered on GuideStar.

Here are some programs we are planning for the summer:

Musical Instruments recycling - through Fairfield Guitar Center we are

fixing up our first instrument.

Also, we will be offering knitting classes, thanks to our newest Board Member,

Janet Kemp.

We are also looking for space to create a Harmony4Kidz Artists Home.

This home will have a store downstairs and will have books for sale, tee shirts and lots of art

made by the youths who will be enrolled in our H4K Apprentice Program.

The art and the music will also be sold on our website - that is part of the redesign plan.

I am very excited that in 2010 Harmony4kidz is able to make all these plans come to fruition.

This is just a beginning, and there is still much work to be done.

Harmony4kidz is focused, fine tuning our mission statement, and focusing on several concrete actions that will make immediate difference for the youths we are working with.

Stop back again to learn more about how we are doing.

Our next board meeting will be this Friday, April 30th at Fairfield Public Library

HARMONY4KIDZ HOW TO SAVE THE WORLD IDEA SUBMISSION FORM

NAME:________________________________AGE:_____________________

ADDRESS:_____________________________

______________________________

PHONE:________________________________DATE:____________________

HOW WOULD YOU SAVE THE WORLD?

________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

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IF YOU ARE SELECTED TO BE IN OUR UPCOMING VIDEO,

PLEASE CHECK ONE OF THE BOXES BELOW

YES, MY PARENTS WILL GIVE ME PERMISSION TO BE IN THE HARMONY4KIDZ MUSIC VIDEO

PARENTS SIGNATURE ___________________________________________

NO, MY PARENTS WILL NOT GIVE ME PERMISSION TO BE IN THE

HARMONY4KIDZ MUSIC VIDEO

YOUR IDEAS WILL BE CONSIDERED AND THE BEST 10 IDEAS WILL

BE ANNOUNCED ON FEBRUARY 6^TH, 2010 AT WESTPORT TOWN HALL

DURING THE HARMONY4KIDZ, SAVE THE WORLD…ONE CHILD AT A TIME

BENEFIT CONCERT. THE SHOW WILL START AT 7PM.

TO PURCHASE TICKETS:

PLEASE CALL WESTPORT HISTORIC SOCIETY AT 203.222.1424

TICKETS ARE $25.00, CHILDREN UNDER 12 GET IN FREE

WINNERS WILL ALSO APPEAR ON RABBI ROCK TV TELEVISON SHOW

WHICH IS SCHEDULED TO BE FILMED ON MARCH 8,2010.

HARMONY4KIDZ AND THE WESTPORT HISTORICAL SOCIETY PRESENT

“SAVE THE WORLD - ONE CHILD AT A TIME” BENEFIT CONCERT

AT THE WESTPORT TOWN HALL ON FEBRUARY 6, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JANUARY 14, 2010

CONTACT: IRENA HART AT 203-209-2779

Harmony4Kidz, an organization dedicated to transforming the lives of homeless children in the Tri-State Area through music and the arts, will present a benefit concert at the Westport Town Hall Auditorium on Saturday, February 6 at 7:30pm.

Tickets are $25 and are available by calling the Westport Historical Society (sponsor of the event) at 203-222-1424. Kids under 12 get in free.  Robby Bridges from WEBE 108 will host the festivities. There will be a silent auction, prizes and donations by many community businesses, including guitar lessons from Fairfield Guitar Center and Valentine’s Day gifts from Arbonne, Sendoutcards and Beautiful Faces.

Musicians performing at the benefit include Irena Hart, (founder of Harmony4Kidz), Al Ferrante Trio, Cassandra Kubinski, Steve Barrett, Larry Shiller, Tony Brochetta, Laura Sumner, the band Face4Radio and special guest Hailey Knox, an 11-year old singer/guitarist.

Kids ages 8-18 are encouraged to participate and submit their ideas on “How to Save the World” by picking up an entry form at the Historical Society. The Top 10 ideas will be announced at the benefit and the winners will be invited to appear in an upcoming Harmony4Kidz music video and on the local internet TV show, “Rabbi Rock TV.” The H4K episode is  scheduled to be filmed on March 8, 2010.

By offering scholarships to music and art camps, schools and colleges, Harmony4Kidz strives to offer opportunities to homeless and at-risk youths that would enable them to become successful and powerful leaders of society. The Westport Historical Society is a volunteer organization and is honored to serve as a community resource for other nonprofit groups and to work with other organizations to reach their goals and create positive change.

For more information visit westporthistory.org and harmony4kidz.org.

contact Irena Hart at irena@harmony4kidz.org or by phone at 203.209.2779 to find out more about the event and to purchase tickets call Westport Historical Society at 203.222.1424