Buffalo Grove Receives Special Ukulele As Part Of Music Therapy Effort

BUFFALO GROVE, IL — You may have noticed an increasing number of colorful ukuleles popping up around the village. The musical instruments are part of a growing art installation in Buffalo Grove.

For kids, especially small ones, playing a guitar can present a bit of a challenge for their little hands and fingers. Musician Corey Bergman discovered this when volunteering to play music at hospitals in the Florida area where he lived. He decided that ukuleles are much more kid-friendly and founded Ukulele Kids Club in 2014.

The BG Singers, the Buffalo Grove Park District’s 75-member community chorus, has performed together for nearly 30 years. Since 2020, the musical group has been helping raise money for the UKC, which to date has donated more than 13,000 ukuleles to over 300 music therapy programs and hospitals around the world.

BG Singers, in partnership with Community Foundation of the Village of Buffalo Grove and Friends of the Parks Foundation of the Buffalo Grove Park District, have raised $11,000 for UKC. Local businesses and organizations can buy two ukuleles as part of the effort — one will be donated to a child in a local Chicago hospital through UKC, while local artists are painting the other for display.

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The ukulele donated to a kid is made with colored strings so children can learn to play the instrument quickly and they can take it home with them when they leave the hospital.

At Tuesday's Buffalo Grove Village Board meeting, a special ukulele was presented to the Village for supporting the program. Local artist Karen Meadows, a former member of the park board and longtime resident, spent more than 50 hours designing a ukulele for Buffalo Grove that features the Village logo.

"This was very exciting for me when they asked me to do the logo for the village. It's near and dear to my heart, the whole project is," Meadows said.

BG Singers originally got involved with UKC during the pandemic and raised $6,000. Since November, the group has raised an additional $5,000, which has led to the purchase of a grand total of 102 ukuleles so far. The project will continue through the end of the summer, just prior to a BG Singers concert planned for September.

"We couldn't have done this without the help of all our local artists who have donated their time to create beautiful art pieces on each of these ukuleles for each of our local businesses," Cathy Novak, president of Friends of the Parks Foundation, said at Tuesday's meeting.

Novak added that local Chicago sports teams and Broadway in Chicago are signing specially-designed ukuleles that will be auctioned off in September as part of the BG Singers concert.

Novak also presented two ukuleles, featuring art work from a school in Park Ridge, to the Buffalo Grove police and fire departments.

To learn more about the program and/or purchase a ukulele, contact Novak at Cathysings2211@aol.com.