For three years now, the New Orleans Bayou Steppers have sponsored the 13 children of the Martin family from New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward. Before the huricane, we helped to celebrate holidays and birthdays within the family and brought the children on field trips throughout New Orleans, offering their grandparents (who have adopted them) much-needed breaks.

 

Hurricane Katrina tore the Martin home to shreds, filled the remains with water, and sent the family to Mississippi. They are currently living in Jackson, hoping for an opportunity to move back to New Orleans in the future.

 

A parochial school in Jackson, the John Wesley Bradley Educational Center, has accepted all of the Martin children and waived their tuition. As of Fall 2006, however, this school can no longer afford to subsidize the children’s lunches.  It costs $840 per month for lunches for all 12 Martin children enrolled.

 

Please help us to finance the Martin school lunches this year!

 

We are trying to send a check at the beginning and middle of each moth to subsidize these meals for the children. Any donation toward this end will be greatly appreciated! You can make a donation through this website or mail any donations to The New Orleans Bayou Steppers; 2700 Chartres St.; New Orleans, LA 70117. As the New Orleans Bayou Steppers, we donate our own time and resources to our Social Aid projects, so your entire donation is spent directly on social aid, and is fully tax-deductible! You will receive a donation receipt for tax purposes.

 

We will continue to update this site with news about the Martins!

Save Our Brass! is a collaborative project designed to assist the Katrina-dispersed brass bands of New Orleans and to bring joy and comfort to New Orleans evacuees and their benefactors. Initiated on September 10, barely two weeks after the storm, this non-profit project has had tremendous success in assisting New Orleans musicians. Among other accomplishments, we have collected and distributed instruments to NOLA musicians; sponsored performances at relief shelters; arranged and facilitated gigs for NOLA musicians nationwide and internationally; organized mentorships between established and young musicians; and given donated funds directly to NOLA musicians in need.

 

Save Our Brass! selected sponsored events and bands

• Hot 8 Brass Band
• To Be Continued Brass Band
• Baton Rouge kick-off weekend (Red Cross shelters; SoGo Live)
• Manhattan Halloween Benefit Concert (Don Hill’s) and performances for evacuees and hosts
• We Are One All-Star Second-Line (January 15, 2006, NOLA)
• Educational workshops and performance at University of Michigan (January 26-28, 2006)
• Presentation of brass band music at South by Southwest Conference and Festival (March 16-18, 2006, Austin, TX)
• Traditional New Orleans Jazz Clinic for young musicians with Dr. Michael White (April and September, 2006)
• September Wednesdays traditional jazz series at Sound Cafe

Save Our Brass! future endeavors

• Introduction of educational program developed at U Michigan to institutions nationwide
• Continuation of Traditional New Orleans Jazz Clinics
• Brass U: subsidized music lessons for New Orleans kids with professional local musicians

Please help nurture New Orleans music with a donation to Save Our Brass! Donations are fully tax-deductible

 

Donations can be made through this website, or by mail (New Orleans Bayou Steppers/2700 Chartres St./New Orleans LA 70117)

 

To learn more about Save Our Brass, please contact our Coordinator, Baty Landis (504-948-0917 or stellabaty@yahoo.com).

 

Special thanks to Dan Storper and Putumayo World Music for their support of this endeavor.