Operation Happy Note was started after music store owners Steve and Barb Baker saw their son deployed to Iraq. They sent him a guitar and soon a buddy of his wanted one as well. Steve and Barb decided to find a way to send more instruments to the boys in uniform. Operation Happy Note was born.
That was in March of 2005, and since that time the couple has arranged for hundreds of instruments, including guitars, mandolins, banjos, violins, harmonicas, and accessories, to be shipped around the world to deployed service men and women.
Their son is back now, but they just can’t stop. They run Operation Happy Note as a volunteer effort and ask for donations from people stateside who would like to see our troops have a little musical entertainment.
Their website has a page allowing for a service man to request an instrument, a page allowing for donations to be made via paypal, letters of thanks from service men who have received and instrument, and a gallery of photos of service men with their new instruments.
Hat Tip: Thanks to reader Blake Jones who wrote in to alert us to this story.
