So I'm gonna take this morning and tell a #TaxTwitter story from last night that warmed my heart, and I don't care how many tweets it takes to thank @Ehjerp.

I was a high school band kid. Typical dork. But band was all I had back then. We all said back then that all the best 1/

lessons were learned on the blacktop. It was a true story. Being in the Silver Regiment taught me about family, teamwork, togetherness, grit, passion, hard work, desire, winning, losing... We were "can't stop, won't stop" before it was cool to have that mindset. 2/

To this day, 17 years after graduating, we've got a Facebook chat among probably a dozen of us who were all in the Silver Regiment together. It's trite to say "friendships that last a lifetime," but in my case, it's true.

Nowadays, the arts are impossible with COVID. 3/

These poor kids who already had last year stripped from them now have a limited number of performances they can look forward to this year. But the costs of being in band are extensive. For some of these families, it's literally impossible to get their kids through any "extras" 4/

I just can't imagine how 17-year old me would have gotten through the rest of high school if I was suddenly plucked from band because my family couldn't afford dues, repairs on my trumpet, or the little basics like slide grease and valve oil. Yet this is reality for so many. 5/

So last night, my guy @Ehjerp and I started a friendly bet about which one of these two bozos trying to become POTUS will win my state, and a conversation came up about my alma mater. We were gonna have a bet for a friendly $20, winner picks the charity the loser donates to. 6/

To make a long story short, this convo evolved into him saying, "I'm gonna make a $300 donation right now."

Folks... Support your local schools and their extracirricular programs. That $300 is going to take some 15-18 year old kid and give him/her the opportunity to 7/

Stay involved in a program they have loved, in many cases for 3 years prior. This DOES matter, and it matters a ton. Band matters. Football matters. Cheerleading matters. Dance matters. It all matters. Yet all of these things cost money at a time where so many don't have it 8/

Donating anything you can to your local school, your local little league, your local dance studio... You have no idea how much that $5 or $10 or $500 or whatever you can give will help these kids out. They've had it tough enough in COVID without having to lose the one thing 9/

that they truly care about it life. I promise that those "extras" will teach them life lessons that they will carry with them forever. It's such a travesty that COVID stripped that from so many kids all across this country, & those of us who can help would bless them to help 10/

That said, my beloved Silver Regiment really can use whatever money they can get right now. A guy who I was in band with all those years ago is now the director, and he's doing everything he can with the limited resources the county gives him to keep his kids safe 11/

So that's why I was so touched when @Ehjerp came out last night and made that donation, and I was equally touched this morning when my other guy @ajthecpa1226 hit me up for a link to make a donation, too. The #TaxTwitter family is top freaking notch and is the best Twitter. 12/

All that said, here's a link you can use to make a donation. I encourage all of you to look into your local schools and make donations to their programs as well, they're all going through varying degrees of the same problem. 13/

http://lhband.org/index.php/Donations/donations.html

We're all in this together, my friends. And the only way we're going to get through it all -- every race, religion, gender & age group -- is by doing all that we can to help each other. Be kind to each other, folks. I promise it'll warm your heart like it did mine to do so. 14/14

OK, and just so y'all can laugh, here's dork me from 2003 and some of us at our annual Alumni Night (that had to be canceled this year, of course) from last year in the band room where all those memories were made all those years ago.