SAWS Practice-a-thon Fundraiser
March 3-23, 2025
Practice for a great cause! The 2025 fundraiser is now complete.
Together we raised $15,042.65, which will allow us to give generously this year!
Top studios:
- Elizabeth Mikhael
- Jen Kovarovic
- Katherine Davis
Top fundraising student: Henry Moore
Most minutes
age 5 and under
Catherine Mikhael 700 minutes AND Sarah Mikhael 700 minutes
honorable mentions: Nikolas Le with 691 minutes, Anouka Joy Seenivasan with 611 minutes
Age 6-9
Shuwei Zhang 1305 minutes
honorable mentions: Laura Martin Davis-Chaney with 1155 minutes; Xóchitl Roque Chaney with 976 minutes
Age 10-13
Estela Roque Chaney 1680 minutes
honorable mentions: Adrian Rogers with 1405 minutes, Sonia Spiller with 1305 minutes, and Isabella Nguyen with 1483 minutes
Age 14-18
Clara Rogers with 955 minutes
Adult
Teresa Flodin 1680 minutes
Completed 21 days
Catherine Mikhael
Zoya Johnson-Ali
Anouka Joy Seenivasan
Nikolas Le
Sarah Mikhael
Benjamin Lutnick
Xóchitl Roque Chaney
Shuwei Zhang
Leah Dominguez
Charlie Fong
Laura Martin Davis-Chaney
Ella Taylor
Maya Richardson
Olivia Nguyen
Margaret Buractaon
Avalene Ahrens
Lilah Spinak
Oisín Nicklas
Sonia Spiller
Isabella Nguyen
Rita Iorik
Winter Fung
Veronica Yang
Zoe Djajadi
Kai Sazanami
Adrian Rogers
Estela Roque Chaney
Jack Demopoulos
Sophie Provine
Henry Moore
Clara Rogers
Teresa Flodin
Kim Church
Niuniu Zhao
Allison Hope
Silas Uffelman-Stevens
Hazel Uffelman-Stevens
Phin Handyside
details from the 2025 fundraiser:
We are thrilled to announce our first ever practice-a-thon fundraiser, a 21 day challenge to take place between March 3-23, 2025. Proceeds will allow us to continue and grow our scholarship program. Our scholarships serve families who need help paying for lessons, instrument expenses, and summer institutes, as well as teachers needing aid for professional development. We recently added the lesson tuition scholarships and these have been very popular.
We are using a secure, user-friendly platform called 99 pledges.
https://app.99pledges.com/fund/saws
SAWS is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is tax-deductible. EIN: 91-1351569
How it will work:
- Register by Saturday, March 1. Your teacher will sign up their studio by sending student names and parent emails to SAWS using this form (form is now closed! email your teacher and ask them to reach out to us to sign up late!). We will upload that information to our 99pledges site, and teachers/parents will receive periodic reminders about the fundraiser. We take your privacy seriously and these email addresses will not be used for any other purpose.
- Ask for sponsors! We encourage students to ask relatives and friends to sponsor them for the challenge, at a suggested donation of $1-5 per practice day. All donations will go through 99pledges.com. To keep things simple, our 99pledges site is set up to only allow flat-fee donations. Sponsors can donate anytime between February 1 – March 31.
- Ready, Set, Practice! Log your practices on this handy calendar (download here) or on your favorite practice app. If you want to compete for a “most minutes” prize you may record your minutes. Otherwise, you can just check off days that you practice. Practice for at least 15 minutes, or set a higher goal if you are more ambitious. Only a PRACTICE counts as a practice: Lessons, group classes, orchestra rehearsals, chamber music coachings, etc., do not count.
- Submit your results by March 31! Submitting results is optional, but if you’d like to be considered for a prize your teacher will have until March 31 to send us your results using this form (coming soon).
Prizes:
- All students who practice 21 days and submit their results will be featured on our Wall of Fame–online, and printed in the fall festival concert program!
- All students who complete 21 days and submit their results will be entered into a raffle for a gift card!
- Students who want to log practice minutes can compete in the “most minutes” category, awarded by age. If you play multiple instruments and study with multiple teachers, your minutes will be combined.
- Age 5 and under
- Age 6-9
- Age 10-13
- Age 14+
- The top fundraiser, as recorded by our 99pledges website, will also receive a gift card.
These scholarships matter, and make a big difference in the lives of families in a time when everything feels more and more expensive! Here are some thank you letters from past recipients.
I would like to thank the SAWS membership for helping young musicians, like my two children, to continue developing. It was a joy watching them blossom at OSI. My older son has finally hit a maturity level that he could really receive what his masterclass teacher could offer him. And take to heart what’s required moving into the next phase of his musical path. Both of my children have been really inspired and look forward to going next year. Thank you Mary Beth for your support in making this scholarship possible. Both my kids and I are very grateful. Sincerely, R.K.
I am so incredibly grateful for receiving the scholarship for my teacher training this year. Thank you so so much for supporting me!! Everyone was so loving and helpful, and this money helped me so much to do my Piano and violin Suzuki book one and ECC all this summer. I can’t wait to continue my teacher training and become a closer part of the Suzuki world.
Wishing you all the best, and thank you for your wonderful work and care!
Warm regards
J.B..