Frank Gould, Jeanne Becker, Chris Schneck, Richard Hawkes, Cheryl Ravenscroft, Shelly Henden, President of Sun Lakes Jewish Congregation Steve Horowitz, Brian Haynie, Carol Horowitz, Charlene Petragallo
Jeanne and Bill Becker
The Keyboard Connection: This group of performers/members share their love of music through the skills they have been able to learn and develop regarding the music of various genres and cultures, and since music “nourishes the soul,” their performances enhance the quality of life intellectually and emotionally for both attendees and performers. Their Foundation grant will provide them with a sound board (technology) and two speakers that allow 12 to 16 keyboards to be plugged into the one sound system for their rehearsals and live performances, which will elevate the quality of the music. In addition, they will be able to purchase new music for skill-building, programming, and expanding their group.
LAFF (Laughter And Friendship Forever), sponsored by the Sun Lakes Jewish Congregation, has been developed as an interfaith partnership to utilize all of the arts (music, dance, theater, and visual art) to enhance cultural understanding and improve inter-group relations. Seniors who want to perform on stage are faced with the limitations of no longer being able to remember all the lines or song lyrics for a show, so LAFF has devised a very innovative way to allow aging minds to still perform! Thanks to the Greater Sun Lakes Community Foundation’s help, in 2024 they were able to purchase television stands for 40-inch television monitors, which were creatively used as “teleprompters,” strategically placed on each side of the stage so that the enlarged lines and lyrics could be easily read by the seniors as they performed for live audiences. For the coming year of 2025-26, LAFF has again sought the assistance of the Greater Sun Lakes Community Foundation to help fund their next interfaith musical comedy The Key to a Good Night’s Sleep, an original play, with four performances to be scheduled in the Spring of 2026. To accomplish this, the Foundation has made a substantial grant to LAFF to help pay for materials and services that are essential for producing a play that includes a large cast and crew of 40 to 50 people.
Tremble Clefs: Do you know someone with Parkinson’s disease (PD)? Many times, PD patients have halting speech, low volume, trouble controlling breathing, and a lot of anxiety about how they appear to others. Many times they think of themselves as “not normal anymore” and struggle with self-esteem issues. One way to help Parkinson’s patients is through group singing, which mitigates the effects of Parkinson’s by providing a successful alternate method of self-expression. Tremble Clefs has been created as a therapeutic singing group for PD patients, care partners, and their family members to help enhance their voices and their quality of life. The program helps improve voice and speech quality (volume, enunciation, articulation), strengthens the respiratory system (breath control, improves depression), and provides a supportive and safe place for the participants to socialize, serving as a non-pharmaceutical method for managing PD. The Sun Lakes Tremble Clefs currently provides biweekly sessions and wishes to expand their number of sessions, so the 2025 Foundation grant will provide funding to help make this happen.