When it came time to pick classes for his first year of middle school, Chris Maxwell decided he wanted to try band. He was inspired by his family: his grandma, great-grandma and some of his uncles are all musicians.

He also wanted to play music with his dad, who is learning to play the guitar for part of his PTSD therapy.

His mom, Tammy, however, was hesitant. Chris is one of five adopted children with varying degrees of disabilities and the family is on a fixed income because Chris’ dad is a disabled veteran.

“To set aside money for something that maybe he’ll have an interest in and maybe he won’t — it’s really hard to do that,” Tammy said.

At the beginning of the school year, however, the family got a note from the school detailing a scholarship for sixth-grade band students. The Knickerbocker Foundation, an organization based in Coeur d’Alene, was offering to pay to lease instruments for band students. As long as families can pay for the first month’s lease, the foundation would cover the other eight months of the school year.

“Being able to have the scholarship allowed for him to be in band, which is a blessing for us,” Tammy said.

Now, Chris and his dad can learn music together — his dad on the guitar and Chris learning the trombone.

Ben Prohaska, the executive director of the Knickerbocker Foundation, said the nonprofit has been working recently to promote music education. He said the foundation successfully ran a similar program to provide instruments to students in Nevada and California.

“Music is such an important part of our schools; it provides a safe environment for kids to express themselves and it boosts their self-esteem,” he said. “We want to create a situation where there is no boundary preventing kids from learning music.”

Shad Frazier, the band teacher at Lakes Magnet Middle School, said his biggest problem is the availability of instruments. The school owns many instruments, but a lot of them are in pretty poor shape or broken, and the school hasn’t been able to get them repaired.

“This is a growing program, which is cool,” he said. “But it comes back to the fact that I only have a certain number of instruments to let kids borrow.”

When the school can’t provide instruments for everyone, some students and their families have to lease instruments from elsewhere.

Frazier explained that for cheaper instruments, the lease is usually around $25 a month. For some families, this can be quite a burden.

“For any kid, band is a place they can succeed… as hard as you work, that’s the return you’ll see,” he said. “I have 16 kids that otherwise wouldn’t have an instrument to play. That’s one third of our group.”

Frazier said band is important and kids really do learn a lot from the class. During band class, students are counting measures, timing notes and keeping rhythm, which all involve math and critical thinking skills.

The school’s principal, Jeff Bengtson, also recognizes the benefits of music classes.

“The more kids we can get involved in music, the better off we will be,” he said. “One of the first things to go in the era of high-stakes testing is the arts programs. I’ve done everything I can to dedicate and allocate resources to the arts because I think they are so important.”

The Knickerbocker Foundation gave the school just under $3,500 to pay for this year’s sixth-graders’ instruments. The goal is to raise enough money to fund the same students as they go into seventh grade as well as provide the same opportunity for next school year’s sixth-graders.

“I’d like to see the community get behind these kids and help them succeed,” Prohaska said. “People can donate money, but we also encourage people to go find the old instrument that’s been in their closet or garage forever and donate that.”

For information about how to donate an old instrument or give financial help, contact Ben Prohaska at (208) 664-6448 or email knickerbockerfoundation@gmail.com.