Annie Cross, MMEd, MT-BC

Children’s Medical Center Dallas
1935 Medical District Dr.
Dallas, TX 75235

September 4, 2009

To Whom It May Concern:

The Blue Star Connection program has been a valuable addition to both our music therapy program at Children’s Medical Center Dallas as well as the patients we serve. So many of the children we serve arrive at the hospital and are immediately stripped of their sense of normalcy as control is taken from them and put in the hands of the medical team.  Their ability to choose when to eat, play, and sleep is now gone, a hard transition for such small lives.  However, with the help of organizations like The Blue Star Connection, we are able to provide these children with something few others can, that is, the ability to regain some of that lost control and normalcy.

Through generous donations, Blue Star has enabled us to bring some of the joy of childhood back to these children.  Allowing children to chose instruments of their preference and empowering them with the skills necessary to play, a whole new world of self expression is opened up to these children, providing them with a therapeutic outlet no other discipline in the hospital can boast.

Our music therapy program has been able to meet a growing need and demand because of the generous guitar donations provided by Blue Star.  Watching the delight on a whole roomful of children’s faces as they are each presented with an electric guitar to use is priceless as we “jam” along to popular songs and patient improvised masterpieces are created.

It is because of the generous instrument donations provided by Blue Star we are able to not only improve the quality of our patients’ lives during their often lengthy hospitalization(s), but also provide opportunities for empowerment through mastering a new skill that they will carry with them for life.  We are so grateful that organizations like The Blue Star connection exist.

Sincerely,

Annie Cross, MMEd, MT-BC
Music Therapist, Children’s Medical Center Dallas