SUMMER CAMPS

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“She loves to explore everything here and is slowly starting to focus on trying to learn the keyboard,” Russell said. “Her fine motor is significantly delayed but it’s been great for her to practice and have fun.”

For 16 years, Songs for Kids (SFK) musicians have performed mini concerts and bedside visits in hospitals across the U.S. It’s a passion that grew from Rifkind’s musician/ producer background and idolizing his father who worked as a doctor.

In 2013, Rifkind and founding board member Sanjay Kothari went on a road-trip and performed at nearly every children’s hospital in the U.S.

“We went to some hospitals that were over 1,000 miles out of the way in the wrong direction and played for an hour,” Rifkind said. “We did 350 performances in 250 days at 249 children’s hospitals. We didn’t cancel a single show.”

As Rifkind interacted with young patients, he saw how much they enjoyed singing along, writing songs, or trying instruments.

“It really grew into a mentorship situation,” Rifkind said. “In 2015, we began the journey to open a center which ultimately opened in 2018.”

Right before the pandemic, SFK was doing 1,000 performances a year and was on track to do several thousand mentorship sessions.

“And now we’re back,” Rifkind said. “It’s a

2022 Summer Camp

lot of N95 [mask] wearing. We practice a lot of safety protocols.”

SFK works to pair new participants with a mentor who could be a drummer, guitar player, singer or songwriter – depending on what the participant wants to explore. Manager of the music mentorship program, Weston Taylor, has mentored hundreds of young people at SFK - including 22-year-old Bennett.

“He liked to cover songs,” Taylor said. “He had tons of his own lyrics sitting around, but he didn’t know how to make a song out of them. We spent several weeks creating melodies, really plotting it out. Within a month of finishing that song we were able to perform it at Shaky Knees on the main stage [last October]. That was awesome.”

The are no expectations at the center except for having fun.

“We’re sneaky. Our fun can lead to learning something, like medicine in the applesauce,” Rifkind said. “Here your goal could be to have an experience for an hour, but we also nurture those striving for something specific.”

Thanks to individual contributors, SFK is completely free, a fact that continues to pleasantly surprise families. Fundraisers like the June 500 Songs for Kids (dates TBD), which features a couple hundred bands spread out over a few weekends, also help make SFK possible.

“Before we opened, I dreamed of people working with their mentors in the space and of the energy of activity and creativity” Rifkind said. “And when we get really busy, it’s exactly like that picture in my head. By the end of this year, I want this place to be filled with everybody who could enjoy our service.”

Learn more/nominate a participant at songsforkids.org or call (404) 541-9231.