LANDOVER, Md., June 2, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- The Prince George's Community Foundation (PGCF) announced today its grant of $7,500 to help the Oxon Hill (MD) High School Band travel to China, where they will perform as part of the 2008 Olympic Games celebration. The band is one of several invited to participate in the Washington, DC Area Band Salute to the XXIX Olympics. The grant comes from the National Harbor Community Outreach Fund, one of several funds administered by the Foundation.
The 45 students selected for the trip represent not only the best musicians, but those who also demonstrate responsibility, reliability, and respect for themselves, their teachers, parents and each other. Throughout the 12-day trip, the band will perform 6 concerts -- among them, one at the Great Wall and another at the Forbidden City -- and also will perform with their Beijing peers in an "international exchange" event. Between concerts, band members and their chaperones will have the opportunity to see some of China's world-famous sites as well as the new Olympic village.
The total cost of the trip is $265,000 and students have been collecting donations and working extra jobs for the past year to raise the money. The $7,500 grant from The Prince George's Community Foundation will add to contributions made by family, friends, the Prince George's County government, and others.
"This grant is meaningful to us on many levels," remarked Walter Harley, the band's director. "Not only will it help students whose families could not afford to send them, but it enables us to produce polo shirts for the students that serve as a uniform, a trip souvenir and, most important, a source of pride."
"All of us at The Prince George's Community Foundation are so pleased to be able to assist such talented and deserving young people," said PGCF Executive Director Desiree Griffin-Moore. "Thanks to the National Harbor Community Outreach Fund, these students have the opportunity to explore and experience their world as never before."
Founded in 1994, The Prince George's County Community Foundation, an affiliate of The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region, fosters philanthropic investment, encourages community involvement and seeks to effect positive change in Prince George's County, MD.
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