Savannah native Tommy Holland believes music helped shape his life, and he believes it can help shape the lives of our youth. That’s why every holiday season he makes it his mission to collect and raise money with one goal in mind: making sure that musical instruments get into the hands of deserving children. This year, the eighth annual Tommy Holland and Friends Musical Toy and Benefit Concert will take place on Sat., Nov. 25 at Coach’s Corner and since its inception, this effort has raised more than $40,000 and purchased instruments for hundreds of Savannah-area children.

This is your eighth year hosting the benefit concert, tell us a little bit more about how this event got started

The benefit originally started at Bar Food when I was playing with my band at Coffee Deli every Wednesday night. It actually started as “Tommy Holland and Friends Birthday Bash and Musical Toy Drive” because my birthday fell on the same day as the event that year. From there the benefit grew so now we host it at Coach’s Corner.

I lost my father when I was 14 years old and it was a very odd time in my life, but music was and always has been kinda my outlet. I had a guitar and I used to go down to the church on the corner, even when they weren’t open, and sit on the ground and play. Music helped change the direction of my life and I think it can help change the direction of kids’ lives.

What instruments will you be giving away this year?

Our number one items that we give away are guitars, keyboards, ukuleles, and harmonicas. If we don’t know exactly what instruments the kids want, those are some great introductory gifts. If a kid is very specific about something though we can usually find a way to get them that instrument.

Why do you think that it’s so important for children to play music?

First of all, music covers every subject. There’s history with music, there’s science with music, there’s math with music, there’s literature with music, and there’s music with music. There have been studies that point at kids who play music have higher math scores, so it’s proven that it works.

The main thing though is just the joy of playing…the relaxation and the avenue that you have to escape with music and I think that every kid should at least have the opportunity. Music has also been around forever, I mean the cavemen had drums.

You’ve gifted a lot of instruments to many children over the years, is there a specific child that really touched you?

Yes there is. Every year, Cumulus Broadcasting does a Christmas Drive and if there are any musical instruments donated they contact me. I remember one year there was this little nine year old girl who put down on her application that she wanted a clarinet because she loved playing so much but she wasn’t able to bring the instrument home from school. I don’t even know where the first clarinet came from but we had one in stock and the same day I got the stuff from Cumulus, another clarinet was donated. We took one of those and cleaned it up, then put together a little package with it and donated it to her for Christmas. That one item made the whole year a success in my opinion.

What does it mean to you to give back to the community every holiday season?

Well first of all it is a community effort, it’s not just Tommy Holland. In the past we’ve had some businesses in town that have been very generous. We’ve had several that gave $500 donations and I really hope they come through this year. I don’t think there should ever be an instance where a child can’t get a musical instrument into his hands so because of that our efforts have expanded beyond just our holiday season with the Little Star Foundation.

Little Star Foundation is something we’re starting to basically continue the musical toy drives year round and we have several different goals in mind. The first goal would be to see how we can get musical instruments into the hands of pre-school kids followed by making sure that any kid who wants to play in the school band gets an instrument if we can possibly make it happen. The third stage is the “rising star” where we’re working to pair high school students who don’t have instruments with an organization to help get them one.

Tommy Holland and Friends Musical Toy and Benefit Concert will take place at Coach’s Corner starting at 6 p.m. on Sat., Nov 25. To make donations to the toy drive visit GoFundMe.com and search for “8th Annual Tommy Holland and Friends Musical Toy Drive” or donate through Zelle at 912-777-0062. Holland is accepting checks, cash, gift cards, and instruments and will pick up anything within Chatham county.

This article appears in Connect Savannah | November, 2023.