Barry Manilow donates 45 violins to 2 Washington state elementary schools

Barry Manilow donates violins to grade schools

EVERETT, Wash. — Forty-five elementary school students will learn to play the violin thanks to Barry Manilow.

He donated the violins through his Manilow Music Project to students at Hawthorne Elementary in Everett and Tulalip (too-LAY’-lip) Elementary on the Tulalip Reservation in Washington state.

The $36,000 donation last week means the Everett School District will have a strings program for the first time in 25 years and the tribal school will have its first strings program ever.

The Everett Herald reports Everett symphony Orchestra assistant conductor Ron Friesen is volunteering to teach students at both schools twice a week.

Manilow decided to donate the violins following a March concert in Everett.

Information from: The Herald, www.heraldnet.com