We have an urgent need for sousaphones: the foundation of the marking band. These are "marching tubas" which provide the bass for the music.

Normally a sousaphone will last 20 years if it is taken care of, and can serve another 10 years as a "practice instrument" after that, so an investment in this kind of instrument will have an effect for literally generations of students.

Our current sousaphones were purchased second hand from a nearby school, and they were about 25 years old at the time. Now they are nearing 30 years old. We recently had a lot of repair work done to re-solder joints and make them more "marching ready" but there is only so much you can do with an instrument that has been patched many times. It is time now finally to retire our current instruments, and get some new ones that will stand up to the rigors of marching.

A new sousaphone costs around $5K, and we need four of them. That is a total of about $20K. This is both a major donation, and also at the same time a long term investment into the community. It may be possible that is an organization or institution will get together and provide enough for a complete instrument, that we can dedicate that instrument to the organization, and commemorate this by some sort of wall plaque in the band room or theater.

• STMAAFundraising

The Raley's Grant initiative is over. We got more than 1000 votes, which is good, but not good enough to capture the prize.

Quick Instructions

• Bookmark this page so you can get back here every day
• Make a user account at Raley's Anyone with an email address can get an account, so each family member is good for this.
• Access the Replace ancient, broken sousaphones for ST page and vote
• Vote every day with the same ID. The item will most votes will get a grant.
• Print this page, and pin it near computer to remind you.

What is the Program?

The Nob Hill grocery store across the street from the school has always been a huge supporter of the ST band! It turns out that this month Raley's (the parent company) is running a really great fundraising program called "Raley's Reach". They will donate $7500 to five different community / school organization that need money.

An entry describing the need that your organization has is made on the Raley's site. Then, people vote on what program they think is worthwhile by visiting the site and voting. Raley's will then donate the funds to the entry that they feel is most worthy, and the more votes a entry gets, the more likely they are going to think that one is it.

Click to see our entry on the Raley's web site.

Our job now is to let everyone know about this wonderful program, and get them all to vote on it. Everyone can vote, and it costs nothing to vote. You can vote once per day. Time is short. Please let all your neighbors know to vote, and help the school with this important need.