KANSAS CITY, KS (KCTV) -
It started with a dream and a few phone books, now it has taken on a life of its own all because of a local veteran working to keep kids out of trouble and a huge donation.
Abe Robinson wanted to influence the new generation in his neighborhood to get off the streets and out of jail by starting a drum line through a passion that started at a young age.
"The first time I heard a drum line play, I was in elementary school. My heart was beating to a bass drum. I knew right then drumming was for me," he said.
He wants to help children in his neighborhood at the Waterstone Apartments choose music over crime.
"In my neighborhood we had drumsticks instead of guns and knives in our pockets," he said.
Robinson started the Waterstone Breeze, a marching band drum line, but there was one problem: they couldn't march.
"Abe started it and he asked if I could find telephone books. It's the least I could do and the kids were playing on big Yellow Pages," said Tawnya Metzler, Waterstone Apartments business manager.
But Metzler, a instrumental force in changing the image of the Kansas City, KS, neighborhood, knew the books had to go.
She called Meyer Music, a metro business known for stepping up.
"When people bring in an instrument they had in their family, they are really handing over a piece of themselves, their memories. Too see it breathe new life and give it to somebody else has been really amazing," Mike Meyer said.
When Robinson saw the donated drums he was speechless.
"You are making a big softy out of me. I haven't dropped tears in awhile," he said.
Robinson said he can't say enough to thank those who donated to his effort to make a difference.
"Some material things can save a person's life," he said.
Robinson and Metzler invited Kansas City's Pythons drill team to perform at the apartment complex.
Robinson hopes the crowd that gathered will be inspired to join the Waterstone Breeze.
"If we save one child. If we keep one child out of jail, if we keep one from committing a crime or being the victim of a crime because they were someplace else practicing," Robinson said.
Abe had participated in drum lines in the military and as a civilian. He is working with the pythons drill team to get pointers on instructing his own drum line for the first time.
Waterstone Apartment has recently tried to improve their neighborhood using community development programs to try to give residents tools to end the cycle of poverty. Click here to read that story.
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