Need help with ideas for starting a school program

The High School most my students go to when they finally make it out of my classes has a service project as one of the requirements of graduation, and I tend to mentor some of these for the kids that remember their old Jr. High science teacher. Most of them are science related, but I got one I had to jump on.
I asked one of my old favorites if she was willing to take the garden program over that oen of the seniors started this year and she said "Nope- I want to bring music back to some of the local schools".
My heart lept...oh, we can so do this! We can create a music program for the kids in an area that is not as economically well-off as the rest of the area, and we can do it with UKULELE!
I showed her some videos of class stuff that have been posted here and she got just as jazzed on doing it...so away we go.
She comes from a family that has played together forever, and has a great music background, and her folks are totally involved (I just got to play dad's white label Kamaka! Awesome!)...but, and here is the rub, we do not have a lot of money.
We would like to focus on a song or short performance over the first ten weeks of school with a class of kids, and produce a video of their accomplishments at the end. We can provide all the video equipment and editing (actually I have secured a professional film and sound crew for this- I have two besties that work in film), and I can provide 13 Ukuleles (yeah, I have no problem letting a kid play my Martin...maybe they will love it like I do) but we are still coming up short. I have a lot of percussion too, but has anyone done this and gotten a response from the Ukulele companies? I would love to see 25 Dolphins all going for it in the hands of ten year olds, but even with the wealth that teaching has brought me, that does not seem really realistic.
Any tips in getting items donated or at cost would be greatly appreciated, as we are tight here. The kids in question our lower income and largely migrant, and their schools have gotten cut over and over again, and their parents cannot foot the bill for programs the way some of the other schools can.
The way I see it, we can make a program that is lasting and pertinent...and important, for lots of kids with very little, but we need that very little to cost very little.
Like I said- any ideas appreciated. I know the fine folks at UU will be helpful here.
Cheers
Dave

Hey TCK, I applaud you jumping in and undertaking this project. I would like to help. I've been a luthier for 28 years and I have an idea. Taking a page from our Canadian neighbors, who have been teaching ukulele in their schools for a long time, I think it is possible to design and build a simple, sturdy, nice sounding uke that can be built easily and cheaply. My criteria would be to design an instrument that could be built in a shop with basic woodworking tools, by someone with basic woodworking skills for under ten dollars in materials. If you are interested, I would be happy to give it a shot by designing it, drawing up the plans and building a prototype. I would then ship you the plans and the prototype. If the design is successful, it could open up a lot of ways to get ukes in the hands of school children.

Brad

I wish you all the best mate. Farmerboy and myself run a very successful uke orchestra at our school. They all start off on Mahalos. Funny thing though, once they're hooked it's amazing what Father Christmas brings.

Anyways back to business. If I can help with some song sheets then give me a private message with an email address. They are in pdf format and A3 size. I'm not sure how that works in the land on inches.

Take a look at my friend Jessica Baron's program www.guitarsintheclassroom.org OK, she's also my ex-wife.

She's got a system figured out that works extremely well and is running all across the US and into Canada. One of the basic tenets of the system is starting kids off in an open tuning so one and two finger "quasi-chords" get the music started immediately. Then after kids are used to playing rhythmically and together, the guitars get switched to regular tuning and another fretting finger or two is added. This addresses a couple of the biggest hurdles...playing in time...especially making the chord changes in time...and multi-finger coordination.

Yes, ukes are a lot simpler, but even uke playing can start off easier in open tuning.

This is awesome. I wish I was closer to you, i would be right there with ya. I love introducing kids to ukes. I wish our school had a program to teach ukes, or at least a seat in the band for a few. This is what got me serching for old tossed out cheap ukes and rebuilding and recycling them by putting them in kid's hands.. But that sounds awesome like said above with a plan of build for simple cheap ukes... I sure would love that too to build them for my local kids..

This is probably wishful thinking, but - I wonder if any of the manufacturers would donate some entry-level ukes to a project like this?

You're all great- off and running with a start!
Bradford- I am the king of the man-cave...gotta see how this would be done- PM sent!
Spookefoote- excellent! Thanks mate- pm sent
Oh this is brilliant Rick- I will be pouring over this one for DAYS- thanks for the heads up!
janeray- that is what I am hoping, but we will see. Letters compelling them to do so are being drafted as we speak.
Tudorp- I will be documenting every step of this to see where it gets, and that is just what I do- I will also be passing it along because I know you are going to do this- you are just waiting for the moment to strike mate.
Cheers all- thanks again
Dave

Went to Home Depot today and for about $9 got everything I should need. I have a basic design worked out and I'll start a building thread in the Luthier's Lounge tomorrow.

Brad

Guitar Center has a Rogue starter kit for $249. It's 10 ukes, 10 soft cases, and some various accessories. Ends up being only $25 a piece. Also uke republic has a ukes-n-schools tab on their website. States they will work with non profits to lower the cost of their ukes. Good luck

This is an awesome idea, good luck with it! Hopefully things will work out with Bradford's idea, but in the meantime you could look at putting your project up on a site like kickstarter to get donations to buy the cheapy ukuleles you need.

Lovinforkful (brilliant handle by the way)...how did I not think of that? DOH!
Going to have to send Mike a message at Republic too...
Not sure about Guitar Center- never had any luck with them at all- not in terms of items ordered...more in terms of them getting them here within a year, or getting them here in one piece

I don't have anything new to add, just wanted to wish you luck and say it's a really cool project and I hope it takes off under budget!

Good Luck

I have posted the first pics on the Luthier's Lounge under School Uke Project.

Brad

I have finally sent the prototype "Youthalele" and the plans to TCK. As I get time, I will add some more detail to the plans. I will also build another one, take some pics of the process and do a couple of threads on how to build these.

Brad