Winlock is a tiny town (population 1,700) located in southeast Washington. Historically, Winlock began as a lumber town before transitioning to agriculture. It became widely known as the largest producer of poultry and eggs in Washington.

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Mr. Jason Kochis is a graduate of Washington State University and reached out to us after hearing about our instrument donation program from his friend and band leader Mr. Matt Zook of Palouse.

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The Winlock School district has about 280 high school and 260 middle school students. This is Mr. Kochis’ first year teaching band, he has had to re-build the program after the last two teachers stepped down. Currently, he only has 6 high school band students and 15 middle school students. The town suffers from poverty and making ends meet has been difficult. This became especially true after a large Egg Producer for the region shut down, leaving many unemployed.

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When Mr. Kochis started this year, he was only allotted a budget of $500 for the entire school year. He is having to re-build the music repertoire and program, which is over 50 years old. But the first thing Mr. Kochis noticed when he started this fall, was that there were many random instruments needing repair. He stated he has no working saxophones and requested 6 flutes for the program so that he could loan them to prospective students. Mr. Kochis stated that for the program this means a “revival,” and having this many usable instruments is “absolutely amazing.”

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Instruments Donated: 

6 flutes

4 trumpets

2 trombones

1 alto saxophone

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