Dear Friends, Family, Colleagues, Neighbors, and Community,
Living Spirit Therapy Services, LLC launched a capital campaign to raise funds for reduced or no cost music therapy for low income, minoritized, and rural older adults.
For those of you who are not familiar with music therapy, it can be an incredibly powerful tool for improving physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and spiritual needs. Unfortunately, unless you live in long term care or are on hospice, most older adults have to pay out of pocket for music therapy services which is not feasible for many. We are hoping this campaign helps to bridge this equity gap.
One individual we worked with had a stroke over a decade earlier. She had no functional speech and her neurologist, Dr., and speech therapist told her she just wasn’t going to speak anymore. When we were done working with her, we recorded her saying “Good morning [name of her daughter and husband] I just wanted to say that I love you”. If she did not have the funds to pay for music therapy out of pocket, she have lived the rest of her life with no functional speech.
An individual with dementia we worked with would spend most of her days sitting in her wheelchair, body tense, grinding her teeth, eyes closed, and completely unresponsive to visiting family members. During music therapy she maintained strong and expressive eye contact with her daughter, nodded her head affirmatively when her daughter shared stories, smiled, laughed, hummed along, and danced to the music. If her daughter did not have the money for private pay music therapy, she and her daughter would have missed these incredible moments of joy and connection.
To learn more go to: https://www.livingspirittherapy.com/capital-campaign-for-older-adults/
How can you help?
1: Make a monetary donation (For business owners, we are happy to provide opportunities for marketing with donations.): https://www.livingspirittherapy.com/capital-campaign-for-older-adults/
2: Donate something to our silent auction. Contact: melissa@livingspirittherapy.com
3: Purchase something from our silent auction. https://www.32auctions.com/LSTSAuctionForOlderAdults
3: Purchase Books from our Usborne Books and More Fundraiser (for kids newborn – 15 years). Buy online using this link: https://d12070.myubam.com/2163111 or join us for a live online party by contacting melissa@livingspirittherapy.com. Email melissa@livingspirittherapy.com if you would like personalized recommendations! 100% of the profits will be donated to the campaign.
Thank you for your time and consideration. Please feel free to share with anyone you think might be interested!
With gratitude,
Melissa Spiess, M.M., MT-BC
Living Spirit Therapy Services, LLC