Blue Star Connection

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Blue Star Connection

GCBS
Po. Box 1530
Winter Park, Colorado 80482

f you wish to make a cash donation or donate an instrument to Blue Star Connection please make checks payable to GCBS with Blue Star Connection in the memo. All of BSC donations are only used for Blue Star purchases. You can also have a donation sent in the name of someone and that money will be noted and an instrument will bear that persons name.

You can mail donations to GCBS P.O. Box 1530 Winter Park, CO 80482

If you have an instrument to donate please email us. Depending on where you are and what you have we will have an appropriate place for you to send it. All donations are tax deductible.

What is the Blue Star Connection?
The Blue Star Connection provides kids with cancer and other life threatening illnesses musical instruments and access to live shows with the help of our musician friends.

Most of our Blue Stars receive an electric guitar and amp. We prefer electric guitars because most of the kids don't have the strength in their hands to play an acoustic guitar and they get a real kick out of the power and noise. Keyboards have now gained a lot of popularity. We get almost as many requests for Keyboards now as guitars

Upon request, we have provided children with harps, saxophones and a violin.

To augment the program, we get them tickets to live shows and festivals around the country. A lot of the artists are kind enough to treat them to back stage access.

How Did Blue Star Connection Start?
In August of 2006 Grand County Blues Society pioneered the Blue Star Connection to help kids with cancer and other life threatening diseases.

Blue Star Connection was born when I asked a 17-year-old with two inoperable brain tumors if he played music. He said he had a beat up acoustic he played on. I asked if he would play an electric guitar if he had one and he said, "Yeah." I asked him what color he would like and his mom chimed in as she looked at his face, "It has to be blue like his baby blues eyes."

Two weeks later, I was sitting in a Radio Shack when a guy came in with an electric guitar to donate to Blues In The Schools. He walks in with a baby blue Ibanez. I called the Shining Stars and told them I had a guitar for Colin. I wanted them to surprise him at his house.

A few weeks later I got am email from doctor Larry McCleery he wrote me and explained that in 25 years of working with sick children, he had not seen such an attitude adjustment the gift of a simple guitar made an unfair universe seem more a little more fair. Those were the words that inspired me. "When we all saw the effect this had on Colin, we decided that the best thing we could do, within reason, was to get a guitar and amp or other instruments for as many children as we could afford."

Since then Colin has found us most of the Blue Stars. So needless to say finding him was like finding the pot of gold under the rainbow.

We now have provided guitars, basses, harmonicas, violin and a piano and keyboards. We have almost 40 kids in the program.

We have kids in Colorado, Texas, California, Seattle, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Florida, Illinois , South Dakota, Mississippi, Tennessee, Geogia, India

We have lost three of our Blue Stars. Devon, Sneha and Brandon. They are always with us as Blue Stars and their loved ones cherish the instrument that brought some peace and music to their .

Why the Name Blue Star Connection?
The kids involved helped us name the program. Blue is the music, Star represents the kids, and Connection illustrates the program: connecting kids with music.

How are Children Selected?
All our Blue Stars are fighting cancer or some life theatening condition. Colin, our first Blue Star, has been the greatest help in discovering new stars. Other stars have heard about our program and send us emails, letters or give us a call. Our Blue Stars are from around the world. The one thing they have in common is the interest in music and the will to fight and to help others.

How is the Program Funded?
All of our money comes from donations. We have received donations for the public, from some of our Blue Stars, from surviviors of cancer and from those who passed from cancer. This program is always in need of money. To donate, fill in the amount below and click the PayPal donate button. All donations are tax deductible since we are a 501 C3 non-profit organization.