Greetings!
The fall sunshine district convention recently completed and the
Heralds of Harmony won the opportunity to compete at the international competition in July. The District Quartet Champion is
The Simple Life. In addition, attendees were entertained by
Main Street and the district quartets:
Signature,
Throwback, and
Rooftop Records. These quartets placed second, fourth and 11th at the international contest in July. Interestingly, almost every one of the 16 members of these four quartets found barbershop harmony singing through our district youth festivals.
These festivals are primarily funded by grants from the
Harmony Foundation. In addition, at our convention
$21,129 was presented to the District and the 30 chapters whose members participated in the donor choice program between January and July of this year. Donors Choice, allows participants to designate up to 30% of their gift to the district and or the chapter of their choice. It is evident that the charitable donations to the Harmony Foundation are being put to good use. Making a donation can also be a direct benefit to the donors who itemize deductions on their tax return and take a charitable deduction. There have been discussions that this deduction may be reduced or eliminated through tax reform, so the importance of giving to charity while fully deductible this year is worth considering.
One of the most efficient ways for people over the age of 70 1/2 is to make their contribution from an individual retirement account (IRA), direct to the harmony foundation. Individuals age 70 1/2 or older can distribute up to $100,000 tax-free annually from their IRA to charitable organizations without including the distribution in their gross income.
With Thanksgiving approaching this is an opportune time to give thanks and share the gift of singing, by making a donation to the Harmony Foundation. Let’s all support music educators and singers by funding the scholarships and educational material our Harmony Foundation provides to keep the whole world singing.
You can click on the button below to go to the Harmony Foundation website, or if you want to contact someone directly, please call
Robert Rund at (843)718-7257.
