Piano music can be heard from the third floor of an almost 100-year-old warehouse near Damen and Pershing. The source of the jingle bell concert is from one of the 150 old pianos collected at the organization's headquarters.
"Keys For Kids is a non-profit organization and what we do is we sell these pianos for a charitable cause," said Joey Della Vecchia of Keys 4/4 Kids. "We get pianos donated to us here and we refurbish them an sell them and profits go to youth education programs."
Keys for kids started in Minneapolis 10 years ago and now it's been here in Chicago for more than a year. It's all about taking old, unwanted and sometimes unplayable pianos and turning them into a musical plus for society -- and at low prices.
"We actually have some here that are free but they can range from free to $9,000 but usually the average piano we get is $500 to $700 and even that is considered a fine used piano," Della Vecchia said.
This is one of those win, win, win situations. First for all people who donate the pianos. They get a tax deduction for that. The pianos come in here, they are restored and then the profits go to help needy kids who are musically talented.
They have all different types of instruments here, from the simple to the sublime and it just might be the only place to buy a grand for under a grand.
"Families can't just go out there and drop $5,000 on a nice piano," Della Vecchia said. "The average family can't do that. So we feel like we're really helping out by having these prices for these pianos."
For more information, visit www.keys44kids.com
