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ACM Lifting Lives
Improving Lives Through The Power Of Music™️

ACM LIFTING LIVES® ANNOUNCES 2020 GRANT CYCLE RECIPIENTS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ACM LIFTING LIVES® ANNOUNCES 2020 GRANT CYCLE RECIPIENTS

ENCINO, CA (December 18, 2019) – ACM Lifting Lives® announced its 2020 grant cycle beneficiaries today with grants for a selection of organizations including Camp Sunshine Inc., CreatiVets, California State University Northridge Foundation, GRAMMY Museum Foundation Inc., The KEYS Program, The Miracle Project, Multiple Sclerosis Achievement Center at Kansas University, Operation Song, Personal Counseling Services, Project C.A.M.P., and Save The Music Foundation. Partnerships with artists and generous giving from fans and the Nashville community enable ACM Lifting Lives to provide funding to organizations that share the same mission, and strive to improve lives through the power of music.

“As we look to the new year, we are excited to share the 2020 grant beneficiary recipients and thrilled to be able to help fund these organizations that make an impact for so many. We are grateful to the country music community who supports ACM Lifting Lives in many ways and allows us to contribute to these worthy charities,” said Lyndsay Cruz, ACM Lifting Lives Executive Director.

Programs funded through this grant cycle include:

  • Camp Sunshine Inc. – Camp Sunshine enriches the lives of Georgia's children with cancer and their families through year-round recreational, educational and support programs. This year, support will go towards the Music Program, with the funds being used directly to pay for the musician hired for 2 weeks of summer camp and 2 weeks of Sunshine 2U - a hospital-based program for children too ill to attend summer camp. www.mycampsunshine.com
  • CreatiVets – CreatiVets provides combat veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury with opportunities to use art, music and creative writing to heal their unseen wounds of war. Funds will support instructor expenses and tuition for veterans for both a new and an ongoing songwriting program related to CreatiVets central songwriting programs. www.creativets.org
  • California State University, Northridge Foundation – California State University, Northridge (CSUN) Foundation serves as an auxiliary organization to CSUN providing leadership and guidance for the University’s fundraising efforts which helps to maintain the margin of excellence in CSUN’s programs. This grant will support CSUN’s Music Therapy Wellness Clinic which provides individually designed music activities for children and adults with disabilities and special challenges and serves as a teaching clinic for the CSUN Music Therapy option. Funds will support the personnel and technology costs for new music therapy services for adults at Choice Hospital Care. csun.edu/foundation
  • GRAMMY Museum Foundation Inc. – The GRAMMY Museum Foundation is dedicated to cultivating a greater understanding of the history and significance of music. The GRAMMY Museum launched monthly Sensory Friendly Saturdays with The Autism Society and Your Ears Rock to offer a more sensory-friendly environment and experience for guests of all ages and abilities. Funds will support the implementation of a quarterly concert series during the Sensory Saturdays program. www.grammymuseum.org
  • The KEYS Program – The KEYS Program delivers music, hope and smiles to children impacted by cancer, and those in need of healing, through music therapy outreach, education and advocacy. Funding will be used to offset the cost of a board-certified music therapist to provide 900 sessions of free music therapy to pediatric cancer patients and their families, special needs sites and nursing homes in two New York counties. www.thekeysprogram.org
  • The Miracle Project – The Miracle Project is a fully inclusive, neurodiverse music, theater, film and expressive arts program focused on building communication, self-esteem, job and social skills for individuals with autism, other disabilities and all abilities – speaking and non-speaking. This grant will fund music professionals to help produce an original musical created by and starring 20-30 individuals with autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy and other disabilities in the summer of 2020. themiracleproject.org

  • Multiple Sclerosis Achievement Center at Kansas University – The MS Achievement Center exists to enhance the quality of life for people with progressed multiple sclerosis (MS). Support will assist with expenses associated with a music therapist, instruments, and additional needs for an experimental music therapy program studying the effects of music therapy on depression, fatigue and sleep in clients with chronic progressive MS. www.kumc.edu
  • Operation Song – Operation Song empowers veterans, active duty military and their family members to tell their stories through the process of songwriting. Funding will cover expenses for a 10-week program that focuses on using songwriting for PTSD symptom reduction and improvement of emotional wellbeing and life satisfaction for those with service-related injuries, illnesses and issues. www.operationsong.org

  • Personal Counseling Services, Inc. – Personal Counseling Services, Inc. has a mission to offer mental health care to everyone desiring wellness of body, mind, spirit, and community. This grant will be utilized to provide music therapy services to underserved populations including the homeless, veterans, seniors, children with disabilities, and children of low-income families. www.pcs-counseling.org

  • Project C.A.M.P. Inc. – Project C.A.M.P. Inc. strives to instill inspiration and empowerment while enhancing the lives of children with serious illnesses. Funds will be used to support the Music Therapy Program for special needs, disabled, and seriously ill children who attend the 2020 summer camps and family retreats. www.courageouskids.org

  • Save The Music Foundation – Save The Music Foundation helps kids, schools and communities realize their full potential through the power of making music. Funds will support the purchase of a piano and other music therapy resources for the delivery of a targeted Keys + Kids Grant to John F. Kennedy School, a middle-secondary special education school serving students with autism, students who are medically fragile, and students with mental and physical disabilities. www.savethemusic.org

For information on guidelines and applications for grants, or to support ACM Lifting Lives’ causes, please visit

www.ACMLiftingLives.org.

About ACM Lifting Lives®

ACM Lifting Lives® is the philanthropic arm of the Academy of Country Music dedicated to improving lives through the power of music. Through partnerships with artists and strong ties in the music industry, ACM Lifting Lives® funds music health programs while also serving members of the music community who face unexpected hardships through its Diane Holcomb Emergency Relief Fund. With generous donations and the support of artists and fans, ACM Lifting Lives® has funded national music therapy programs serving various mental and physical health organizations. Some of the recipients have included patients at children’s hospitals and other healthcare facilities, recovering veterans, people with Williams syndrome and individuals suffering with mental illness. For more information, please visit www.ACMLiftingLives.org.

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