Gordon M. Boyd
Mt. McGregor Organ Fund
99 State Street
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

December 2006

Dear friends and contributors,

Along with the happiest holiday greetings, I am very pleased to inform you that thanks to your generosity and support this year, as well as the patient guidance of Chaplain Joseph Caron, we have made real progress toward a number of important goals.

Progress and Recognition
• The Austin 690 in St. Mary's chapel at Mt. McGregor Correctional Facility is back on its feet. There is still more restoration work to do, but the instrument plays beautifully, fills this outstanding acoustic space with a wonderful sound, and is providing a platform for the growth of musical programs at Mt. McGregor.
• The Organ Historical Society, a national organization dedicated to the preservation of unique high quality instruments, presented a Citation attesting to the instrument's historic importance. The rededication was held June 23, with members of OHS, and about 100 inmates and guests in attendance. Superintendent Harold McKinney received the Citation on behalf of the facility, and we are so thankful for his support of this project.
• The organ was used to accompany the National Anthem during the Veterans' Day observance, which included about 60 inmates and 50 guests,.

Programs
• We have contacted several professional organists to present recitals in 2007. Schedule to be announced as soon as we have clearance from the prison for these events. So a recital series will be off the ground soon.
• An inmate choral program has been approved, to be led by volunteer Jane Flynn, a professional choral director, recently retired from a career teaching public school music students. The choral program will provide for regular rehearsals (about 20 inmates have signed up), and, it is hoped, opportunity for volunteer singers from the community to participate. The goal is to present a program in the chapel two or three times a year.
• An inmate has signed up for organ lessons with Farrell Goehring, organist and music director at Bethesda Episcopal Church, Saratoga Springs. The inmate, already an accomplished keyboard player, is progressing well and is expected to play the organ for the prison's Christmas services this year. Mr. Goehring goes to the prison weekly to play the organ; inmates are visiting the chapel to listen and learn.
• We also wanted outside choral groups to use the organ for their programs. On December 11, Bethesda's adult choir presented its third annual Advent musical program, including choral music from the 15th to 20th Centuries. The a cappella pieces were wonderful, as usual, in that acoustic, but the accompanied Christmas carols (with inmates singing) and an anthem by Charles Wood (O Thou the Sacred Orb) were stunning. We hope to produce a recording from the chapel in 2007 to thank our contributors and to substantiate our capacity for more funds. Other churches and choral groups are expected to find their way to the chapel and the organ loft for musical events.

Foundation management and support
• We have entered into an agreement with the Community Foundation for the Capital Region, which is a tax exempt 501-C-3 organization that manages about 200 funds and trusts. The Foundation will manage our money, assure tax compliance, and be our financial partner in seeking other grants and funding. We are delighted to have their capable and experienced hands on our treasury. Your future contributions should be made payable to the Community Foundation for the Capital Region, marked for "Mt. McGregor Organ Fund" in the memo section of the check. They may be sent to the address above.
• Our next fundraising goal is to raise the money needed to complete the restoration, and provide an endowment for maintenance. Only about two-thirds of the organ is playing at present, and there are electrical upgrades that are long overdue. We are awaiting a detailed estimate from the Austin Organ Co., whose technicians have done such a good job so far, before approaching foundations. Only private donations (no public funds) have been used so far, and we intend to keep it that way.

I know I speak for Chaplain Caron and all who have heard this wonderful instrument or experienced the thrill of singing along with it, when I say thank you so much for your encouragement and support. After the rededication last summer, I received a letter from one of the OHS officers who took part in the presentation, Laurence Libin, Emeritus curator of musical instruments, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Honorary curator, Steinway & Sons. Mr. Libin said the rededication event "filled me with optimism that this important project will move forward swiftly, as the overwhelming emotional response of inmates and guests demonstrated the importance of this venerable instrument as a tool for healing and rehabilitation as well as for enjoyment and spiritual refreshment. I can imagine no more useful endeavor in such an enlightened facility, and hope that your initiative will receive all the encouragement it deserves. Certainly, beauty needs to be cultivated in our society and nowhere more urgently than among persons whose lives have been blighted from the lack of it."

Thank you again for your support and encouragement in this project. We will try to keep you informed of our progress and coming events as soon as we are able to.

Sincerely,

Gordon M. Boyd

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