12 July, 2022

On May 14, 2022 I provided a Hohner-sponsored Harmonikids session to 18 young men at Hoops House, a residential drug and/or alcohol recovery home in Huachuca City, Arizona. Hoops House describes itself as “… a family of individuals committed to work together to create a safe sober living environment conducive to growth and recovery and restoring pride and dignity. Hoops House provides sobriety, improved physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual health while focusing on positive community involvement...". In alignment with Harmonikids mission, the session provided the participants a positive form of creative expression and emotional release in this crucial time in their lives. Learning to play songs on a musical instrument can become an inspirational and healing force. As the attendees wrote in their feedback below, besides being "a lot of fun", the Harmonikids session assisted them by providing “a new coping skill", “inspiration”, a means of "emotional expression", "stress and anxiety relief", and "a new positive outlook and direction in their recovery".

~ Gary Allegretto, Founding Director of Harmonikids, www.harmonikids.org

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Feedback from the Hoops House attendees:

"He showed me a new outlook and direction for my recovery. It added a new coping skill.” ~ B.H.

"Harmonica class was a good change to the other meetings we have. Visual and auditory learning is good healing for recovery. I enjoyed the class to let outside worries and anxiety be temporarily shut out. Incredibly insightful and rewarding.” ~ M.G.

"I am really great full to have learned to play the harmonica. It was a an amazing experience, now I have a chance relieve my stress." ~ R.V.

"I got a lot of joy learning how to express my emotions through playing music. It also gave me inspiration to follow what I like, because I like to try new things. I would never know until I try things and Mister Gary coming really influenced me in a positive way." ~ R.C.

"I found Mr. Allegretto very easy to understand and I did actually learned how to play the harmonica a lot better with his workshop than I did with a private instructor. On top of that listening to some amazing harmonica skills. He gave us a really nice harmonica for us to keep." ~ C.C.

"It was awesome having Gary come over and show us how to play. The interaction was great and we had a lot of fun.” ~ T. H.