Another company well known for its community efforts—including a massive effort to help Hurricane Katrina victims and concerts for the community—is Peavey Electronics. Mary Peavey, president of the company, is actively involved in many causes. She serves on the board of directors for the National Afterschool Alliance. “It’s a nonprofit advocacy group,” said Peavey. “The goal is to provide care for children after school from the hours of 3 to 6 p.m. What made me get interested in it was the idea that perhaps the children could learn to play music after school. But more than that is 3 to 6 is a time when juveniles often get involved with crime.
“The Afterschool Alliance also has a ‘Lights On Afterschool’ rally across the country that brings attention to the need for afterschool care,” added Peavey. “It has grown every year. About one million people participated last year. And they even lit the Empire State Building [in New York City].” California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been chairman of this rally since 2001.
Another initiative Peavey created is a singing competition called “Afterschool (Not) Idle,” in which afterschool program students serve as the audience. Seventy-seven students participated last year, said Mary Peavey.
 Another company involved in an afterschool program is Ultrasone. The company sponsors a 3 to 6 p.m. nonprofit program called Renaissance EMS in the Bronx, N.Y. “It’s an afterschool program that provides education, music, and sports,” said Becca Sanders, Ultrasone’s operations manager. “It’s designed to keep them on track and help the kids succeed. We donated a bunch of headphones to their music program.”
Line 6 is involved in several charitable and community causes. “One of the most recent things we’ve done is provide gear for a local high school to start a music program. It’s called Indian Hills High School (California),” said Krista Gariano Shue, Line 6’s director of public relations. “They weren’t able to start a music program unless we were able to donate gear for them. The school’s main focus is a band setting. So we provided PODs, Spider 3 amps, and a slew of gear for them to get started.”
Italian-based XOX Audio Tools announced at Musikmesse it would support Guitars Not Guns, an international charity that helps underprivileged children avoid violent activities by providing them with a musical education, and if they express further interest, guitars. “Most of these children never owned anything in their lives,” said Peter Solomon, XOX’ director and designer. “The results are wonderful. The children cherish the guitars. When we first heard about the organization, everyone at XOX wanted to help them.”
XOX will be auctioning the last of its 100 limited-edition numbered carbon-fiber guitars—named The Handle—with all proceeds benefiting Guitars Not Guns. The auction was set to take place this month.
Daisy Rock Girl Guitars is involved with a plethora of charities. One of its most recent projects was the annual Pretty ’N Punk showcase which took place at the Key Club in Los Angeles. “The door proceeds go to the National Breast Cancer Foundation,” said Tish Ciravolo, president and founder of Daisy Rock. “We also do raffles all night long.”
The event features 11 bands and also includes a silent auction when people bid on guitars by artists including Third Eye Blind, Good Charlotte, and The Donnas.
“We also sponsor several festivals and the X Games,” she added. “We’re trying to get into different areas where there are girls, but often no girls representing music.”
 American Music & Sound has championed the Guitars in the Classroom (GITC) cause. “We donated 900 acoustic guitars to [GITC],” said Gabriel Whyel, marketing director for American Music & Sound. “We really wanted to help get that organization kick started with quality gear. Kids won’t get excited unless it’s a good guitar. We hope those kids grow up to play actual guitars. Getting kids excited early on is critical for our future.”
“In the past nine years, we have donated close to $180,000 to U.S. and Canadian organizations such as the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, and Music Cares. In our local community (Stow, Ohio), we’ve been big supporters of United Way,” said Phil Cajka, CEO of Audio-Technica U.S. We’ve been involved with United Way for 25 years. We match our employee contributions dollar for dollar. In the past year, our contribution was a combined $40,000.”
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