Music to Their Ears: Florence 1 Gets Violin Program Funding

By: Gavin Jackson FLORENCE, South Carolina, October 05, 2011 - Florence School District 1 received $5,000 from First Reliance Bank and the Florence Breakfast Rotary Club with 112 strings attached. The district will be buying 28 new violins (which have four strings each) to split between Lester Elementary School third-graders and Dewey L. Carter Elementary School sixth-graders, allowing each student in the classes to have access to a violin without the need of having students purchase or rent them. "Many children here don't have the opportunity to get a violin," First Reliance Bank Community Development Officer Joan Billheimer said. Since the program’s start, Billheimer said, she has seen an impact. "We saw an appreciation from the parents. We got letters from the parents who said they could never afford a violin for their child," she said. First Reliance Bank has been the main sponsor of this program since its inception ...