BALTIMORE — “Seeing how many lives we saved, seeing how many lives we touched daily. Yes, it's drums, it's dance, it's horns, but it's all of the things outside of the building,” said Dennis Lee, the Executive Director for Marching Elite.
Lee and his wife have been running the program since 2001, holding practices during the weekday on top of having full-time jobs.
“When there are days where I feel like I want to give up, I have many other community leaders, many other people inside of BCYF [Baltimore Children and Youth Fund] saying, 'Dennis, keep the fight,'” shared Lee.
He adds that the band would look and sound a lot different without the support of the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund.
“These heads cost $1,000. So, if you look at the Quint drums, there's six of them. Our tuba player, right? We have a total of four, but I only have two sousaphones that work. The sousaphone is held on by coat hangers, but when he picked it up, another brace fell off,” said Lee.
They’re able to focus less on fundraising and channel that time and energy in other areas, like getting kids help with homework, college prep or even just asking how’s life going outside of band practice.
“I have kids in the program who are in gangs, kids who are drug dealers,” Lee said. “They spend more time here than they do those other activities. If I told them they needed $300 for drumheads or $100 for a trip, it would just create another barrier for them.”
They’re removing those barriers - and the work hasn’t gone unnoticed. The program’s students have performed at events like the mayor’s inauguration.
“I wasn’t really too fond of college,” said one participant. “But then when I joined Marching Elite, I was like, ‘Oh, I could do band in college. Why don’t I go to the next level?’”
Another student shared: "I gained a new family, you know, a new community."
All of this started with one tuba player - Dennis’ son.
“At the time, colleges always needed brass players and if I showed him how to play tuba, he could get a full ride and he did. But through that time, he brought his friends,” said Lee.
From one child to another, Marching Elite will keep on marching for years to come.