How United Way and Harmony Project KC helped Lizbeth find her voice–and her future.
It’s graduation season! As students embark on this momentous occasion and beginning a new chapter in their lives, many are reflecting on the people and places that have made a deep impact on them.
We’re delighted that Northeast Community Center and its Harmony Project will soon be joining United Way’s Impact 100. A graduating student penned a powerful essay about the impact you have when investing in youth opportunities across our six-county service region.
Lizbeth C. penned the following essay about her experience:
I joined Harmony Project KC and the Northeast Community Center in 2015, and from the moment I walked through the main building doors, my life would forever be changed.
My family and I moved to Kansas City in 2013 from Los Angeles, California. Everything changed from there on. And little did I know that it would never be the same way.
Harmony Project has offered opportunities I never would have had if I was not part of the program. My family made the tough decision to pack up everything we owned and move halfway across the country for a fresh start. I was just six years old at the time and was too young to understand the severity of my parents’ decision.
When I first arrived, I saw Missouri as a new place to explore, a mystery to uncover, but that feeling wore off after a couple of weeks and I needed something new to uncover and explore. That is where the violin came in. I first heard the violin on a YouTube video my mother was playing to help us focus on our nightly prayers. I was captivated by what I was hearing. It was a majestic sound, with the notes blending in together —beautiful melodies and harmonies combining.
After that, I begged my parents to put me in violin lessons and after a lot of nagging for my part, they enrolled me in classes. I first began lessons at Meyer Music. My father would drive 30 minutes just to take me to my one hour violin class. I was there for a couple of months before my mother received a phone call from my aunt, who showed her a newspaper she had received. The front page was about a program that was about to open and how they were looking for children to sign up. The best part was that it was all free.
My mother was immediately hooked on the idea of this program and the fact it wouldn’t cost us a thing. She then enrolled my siblings and me and we began. Harmony opened many doors for me: friendships, opportunities to present my talent to others, and it. helped me on my path to college.
My parents decided to homeschool me and my siblings, and Harmony Project was my way to socialize with other people. Harmony Project has taught me the importance of community and helping one another. True genuine friendship comes from trusting one another and being able to rely on others when you need it most. Harmony Project has been a part of my past, it is a part of my present, and it will be a part of my future as I will carry on everything it has taught me. One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned from Harmony Project is to always lend a hand to those who need it. Even though my time at Harmony Project is ending, my time for giving is barely beginning.