This is to announce the formation of the Tufnel Instrument Co-Op. Its purpose is to provide musical instruments for homeless people to borrow and use. I found that there are many homeless people with musical talent who have a hard time keeping their instruments because they don’t have a secure place to keep them.

This co-op is an adjunct of The Church of Universal Soul and it is donating some instruments in the hope that this will inspire others to donate instruments or money to make the project work. I look at these donations as priming the pump. Pouring water into a dry pump will enable you to pump out more water. I remember a song the Kingston Trio played:

These instruments will be available for people to play during the Whiteaker block party on Saturday, August 3 at the CALC office (458 Blair Blvd.) from 1:00 to 6:00. I hope that people will come by to try them out. (You don’t need to be homeless to play them.)

This co-op is the first step for the church to fulfill its mission, which is to provide shelter for the homeless (which might be used from time to time for musical events). If this works, I will start to set up the Tufnel Land Co-Op (TLC). This is a much more ambitious project, but the experience I get from this might help me set it up. I will go ahead with the land co-op if I find that the well of human compassion in Eugene is not dry.