As we launch our annual Winter Campaign, which generates nearly 80% of our donation revenue, we want to do more than simply ask you for financial support. We also want to share our story: our original vision, snippets about several of our thriving programs, as well as the personal stories of the people behind EBCMP. We thank you for your support, and hope to sing with you soon!
EBCMP stories: Bridget Harcey
Meet Bridget
For the past several years, Bridget Harcey has regularly attended our Sunday Gatherings, Seasonal Festivals, and Family Campouts. We are delighted that she recently joined the Board, where she now serves as Board Secretary.
Bridget has a busy life with two young children, so we were curious to know what inspires her to invest her time in the East Bay Community Music Project. Recently we sat down with Bridget to learn a bit of her story…
What was your musical experience before you discovered EBCMP?
“Growing up I just listened a lot to the radio, and my mother singing and playing her guitar, and campfire times, and anything surrounding our church. I was in chorus as a teenager. And then it was me just liking music, but not having a lot of direction, because I didn’t have any formal training. Mostly I’ve been an appreciator and a joiner-in when I could be. And I always wanted to be a musician!“
What was it like to walk into an EBCMP event the first time?
“I did a lot of dance in college, sometimes with music, and I have always gravitated towards something that gets me moving and vocalizing and breathing…Walking in to my first Sunday gathering was exactly that! Once you start moving and breathing together with others, it just shifts you back to center somehow. I have that same feeling every time I go, and it becomes more and more familiar every time. And there are always new people, and it doesn’t matter, everyone is welcome. It’s just a safe context in this intense world!”
What impact has EBCMP had on the way you interact with your family or your other communities?
“EBCMP has been an antidote to stress, first of all! And I would say it’s growing me out of my inhibition, because I would not normally start singing or dancing, or showing joy in that way.
Yet I feel much more free to do that now! I have led music in a large group context at my work, and —even if I was shaking the entire time I was doing it— it was well received.
And in our family life, my children and I…we’ve got another common language besides English and the touch that we have. We have this language which is music and movement, which lets us connect in a new way.”
What made you want to serve as a Board Member?
“Because this is something I love. I have come to love this community, and this kind of sharing, and I realize it’s actually very rare, but it’s so fundamental to human existence at the same time.
And it’s one of those things we’re being isolated from, in the modern day…being together with others in an accepting way. I see this concept in my children, and it’s a concept that they will own always, that music and community and movement, they just belong together!“
If, like Bridget and her family, you believe that music and movement and community belong together, we hope you will support us financially and/or attend one of our upcoming programs. Learn how you can get involved.