(Supplied)

By rdnewsNOW staff

Jennah Salls and Jazdn Moore

Lindsay Thurber alumnus craft custom guitar for a good cause

Sep 20, 2023 | 2:38 PM

A guitar with special meaning is coming home thanks to two Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School Music Program alumnus who are passionate about supporting youth and strive to make a meaningful difference in the community.

As part of their quest to help make a difference, this year Jennah Salls and Jazdn Moore decided to support the Clayton Bellamy Foundation for the Arts by building an electric guitar made from all local wood in central Alberta. School officials say proceeds from the event will help support the build of an arts centre in Lakeland.

“This guitar project sparked from a combination of everything we’re passionate about. Being such big fans of music and its impact, alongside our goal to give back to our community as much as possible, once we discovered the Clayton Bellamy Foundation, the vision all came together,” said Jennah. “We wanted to build this guitar to have the experience under our belt and since it had so much potential to be a part of something bigger, it was a no brainer to tie it into the Clayton Bellamy Foundation.”

Officials say construction of the guitar began under the mentorship of local luthier David Gilmore with Gilmore Guitars. “We then decided to kick it up a notch by starting a fundraiser around our community with the hopes of raising as much money as possible for the Foundation’s cause,” said Jazdn.

The guitar was auctioned off at the Clayton Bellamy Foundation For The Arts event in Bonnyville earlier this month.

mayor hopes to meet housing minister this month

Alberta demands Ottawa back off on housing funding stripped from Red Deer

18h ago

Last seen Jan. 15

Missing: Courtney Cattleman, 17, of Maskwacis

23h ago

eyes up

Air Spray training around Red Deer Regional Airport

23h ago

(Supplied)

“This fundraiser also was designed to try and raise the winning bid to be able to bring the guitar back to Red Deer considering that the auction for the foundation takes place outside of our community,” said Jennah. “Our mission was to get it into the hands of other youth by donating it to the LTCHS music program as alumni. To further support Clayton’s amazing objective, we also decided to put in a custom made coffee station, coffee table and end table set as an auction item. It’s just been an incredible journey building this guitar and dreaming bigger and bigger as each day goes by and we simply want to make the biggest impact possible with this project!”

Thanks to the generous support of the community, Jennah and Jazdn were able to put a winning bid of $11,000 for the guitar. The custom furniture also went for $8,500.

As a result, the custom built guitar was given to Lindsay Thurber so that students in the music program can have an opportunity to play it and feel its impact.

“We are so grateful to benefit from Jennah and Jazdn’s commitment to the arts and their passion for supporting the community,” said Jennifer Mann, Music Director at Lindsay Thurber. “The story of the guitar and Jennah and Jazdn’s generosity will live on for years to come through our music program.”