Jefferson Center Collects Donated Guitar’s for Local Veterans

An instructor helps a vet with finger placement on a recently donated guitar.
An instructor helps a vet with finger placement on a recently donated guitar.

On Monday evening, May 6th, the Salem chapter of the national Guitars For Vets (G4V) program received 10 acoustic guitars collected through Jefferson Center. The local chapter of G4V meets inside the Salem VAMC and offers veterans an opportunity to restore the feelings of joy and purpose through the power of music.

The guitar collection drive was spearheaded by Jefferson Center Guest Services Manager, Ian Fortier. “We have access to a regional network of musicians, performers, and instructors”, said Fortier. “Our ability to collect these guitars on behalf of the Guitars for Vets program at the Salem VAMC was a nice compliment to their needs and with a waiting list of 70 veterans wanting to participate, we believe these contributions will have an immediate impact for this valuable program.”

“Before this donation G4V was only able to support guitars and accessories for six Veterans per beginning level series,” said Lisbeth Woodward, Salem VAMC G4V Coordinator. “With the generous support of Jefferson Center donating gently used guitars, we are able to enroll 4-5 additional Veterans per series and decrease the waiting period for enrollment.”

G4V began nationally in 2007 when a Milwaukee area guitar instructor was introduced to a Vietnam Era Marine who wanted to play guitar, but felt that the effects of his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) had left him with the inability to coordinate the hands and the mind. What both men discovered was that the guitar could be a catalyst for positive human interaction.

Locally, the Salem VAMC Music Therapy program has an overwhelming response among the Veteran population in Salem and the surrounding areas. Many have asked to learn guitar skills to help manage symptoms related to substance abuse, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, PTSD, etc., as well as, purely for the joy of making music.

“Dave Bowen, the local G4V Chapter Coordinator, introduced himself and asked if I knew about G4V and would be interested in helping establish the program for our facility,” said Woodward. “I was very excited, as this program had the potential to assist me in reaching out to many Veterans. Understanding that G4V functions as an educational resource, opposed to a therapeutic milieu; it has the potential to provide therapeutic benefits which may assist in meeting the needs and requests of many Veterans who have expressed interest.”

The Salem VAMC G4V program offers a 10 week series of beginner guitar group lessons.  The lessons occur once a week, for 60 minutes, totaling 2-3 ten week series per year. At the end of the ten week series, each Veteran is provided a donated guitar and basic accessories. In order to continue to support and advanced the Veteran’s endeavors, they are then invited to join an intermediate/advanced beginner group.

According to Woodward, benefits of the program may include a decrease in anxiety, decrease in depression, improvement in general well-being, increase in self-worth/self-esteem, increase in social interaction, increase in relationships with family and community, development of positive/constructive leisure skills, improvement in coping skills, improvement in executive functioning, and improvement in fine motor skills.

Jefferson Center plans to expand efforts to collect guitars for the G4V program and invites the public to do the same. G4V accepts guitars, playable or not, to be used as practice guitars or sold in order to raise funds for the program. Even guitars that are deemed irreparable are turned into visual art through the G4V’s Art Strings program and sold at events. Guitar donations are tax deductible and can be dropped off at the Jefferson Center or directly to the local chapter of G4V by contacting David Bowen at [email protected].

Latest Articles

- Advertisement -

Latest Articles

- Advertisement -

Related Articles