A Virginia teen’s love of music inspired him to repair over 100 instruments

When Brendan Wheeler pitched an Eagle Scout project that would focus on collecting and repairing musical instruments to give to low-income children, he thought he’d collect 25 instruments at most.

But within a few months, Brendan had collected and repaired more than 100.

“I put out the first word, and the amount of the overwhelming support and praise and things I got from my community, people I’ve never met before just around the D.C. area, but also my fellow Scouts and band members, was insane,” said Brendan, a 14-year-old trumpet player in Langley High School’s marching band. “It just flooded in.”

Brendan, of Great Falls, Va., thought of the project during the summer. He had watched a documentary called “The Last Repair Shop,” which focuses on a group of people who repair musical instruments for students in Los Angeles, and he thought he could do something similar. And it would align with one of his passions: music.

“I really wanted [the Eagle Scout project] to really be interesting and more long-lasting,” said Brendan, who was inspired by his father to start playing the trumpet in the fifth grade. “I felt that this was the perfect thing for me.”

His mother, Megan Kenna, was surprised by Brendan’s idea, because it was different from what most scouts in his troop would pitch.

“But I thought that was kind of cool because it really was unique to him and something he really cared a lot about,” Kenna said.

Brendan started planning his project around June. Even though he’d estimated he would collect about 25 instruments, he set a goal of getting at least 50. When the school year started in August, he handed out fliers and posted on Facebook to solicit donations with the help of some other Scouts in his troop.

Those donations poured in quickly. For about a month, Brendan was receiving two each day, he said. He kept track of the instruments through a spreadsheet, and by Dec. 18, he’d received more than 100 donations.

The donations included recorders, flutes, cellos, and his personal favorite, a banjolele – a hybrid of a banjo and a ukulele.

He knew how to take care of brass instruments, and his father taught him how to fix up a guitar. But Brendan hadn’t been exposed to some of the instruments, so he relied on YouTube videos to teach him what he would need to do.

On Dec. 15, about 20 volunteers showed up to his house to help Brendan make repairs. He organized brass, strings, percussion and woodwinds stations, and assigned volunteers to a spot based on which instrument they had the most skill with. For those without any musical experience, Brendan taught them what to do.

Most of the instruments just needed to be cleaned or oiled to get the parts moving again, he said. There were a handful that needed to be taken apart to be cleaned and repaired.

After about four hours, every instrument was fixed.

Brendan donated all of the instruments to Hungry for Music, a Woodstock, Va.-based organization that has given instruments to low-income students around the globe. Last week, a driver showed up in a moving truck to pick up all the instruments Brendan repaired.

Jeff Campbell, the founder and director of the organization, said Hungry for Music receives some donations each year from youths who decide to collect instruments as a service project. They usually collect a few dozen instruments, but Brendan’s batch was larger than usual, he said.

“Not many kids collect that many and go to the extent of cleaning them up and getting them ready to go as much as possible,” Campbell said. “He did a really fantastic job.”

Brendan said he was inspired by his mother, stepfather and father to finish the project. He has to earn one more merit badge, write a report and participate in interviews before he officially becomes an Eagle Scout. But the service project was the biggest step, he said, and he was proud of what he accomplished.

“I was able to bring the love of music that I have to kids’ lives who might need something like this, who don’t have the opportunities I have to have the nice instruments,” he said. “It’s sad that it’s ending, but I’m very excited to see where the instruments go.”