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About Us
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The concept for Sounds of Hope Project (SOHP) was born in 2002
when musician and elementary school music teacher, Mary Lou Lydecker, was diagnosed with a rare auto-immune
disease called "cold agglutinin." Cold temperatures, wide temperature changes, and in her case, the common
cold cause her to become extremely anemic and literally housebound.
The first month of being at home
after years of working allowed Mary Lou to rest, build her strength up, read, catch up on projects, and enjoy
the calm. During the second month, however, Mary Lou felt frustrated and a little depressed. Her husband
and friends were all working, she was housebound, and her teaching career had ended abruptly. As Mary Lou
learned more about coping with her cold agglutinin disease and its limitations, she began to search for a
new direction and purpose for her musical talents. The project, though, had to be flexible enough to be done
in her house.
The remembered a friend suggesting that she record herself singing and playing the piano
and then have someone take the tapes to a nursing home. This seed of an idea started growing into a possible
project for her life, and for others. After a long search for a professional to record her music, Bill
Hartzell, president of the Hartzell Media Group, came through. Because of the temperature restrictions put
on Mary Lou by her disease, Bill was willing to record Mary Lou in her home. The result - Keys to Peace.
Mary Lou's brothers helped her cause by distributing the CDs to nursing homes.
Sound of Hope project
was launched!
The second recording, Sounds of Hope, added a flute player and vocalists. The same
musicians created the Hope for the Holidays CD. Matt Ginter, an accomplished organist, board member, and
organist at. St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Rocky River, donated his organ CD, Hope for the Spirit, to SOHP.
Sound of Hope Project officially became a non-profit organization in May, 2004. SOHP has created
six CDs, Keys to Peace, Sounds of Hope, Hope in the Spirit, Hope for the Holidays, Growing in Hope, and
The Spirit of America and has distributed over 1000 CDs to shut-ins, those under hospice care, the hospitalized
and those in nursing homes.
Board
of Directors:
Officers:
Mary Lou Lydecker - President
William Hartzell - Vice President
Matthew Ginter - Secretary
Sheryl Evans - Treasurer
Members at large:
Liz Germano
Sue Grimm
Laura Nary
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"Whispers of Hope":
Sounds of Hope Project will be releasing its seventh album, Whispers of Hope, an American Indian flute CD
in the fall of 2009. A final release date is not available.
Christmas 2009 TBA:
For the 2009 Christmas season, Sounds of Hope
Project will release and eighth CD, its second Christmas album.
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"Sounds of Hope
Project is a music and community outreach program. Its goal is to bring comfort and support through
recorded music to those in need of spiritual and/or physical healing by utilizing the donated time
and talents of local musicians."
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