Meet The Forest Hills Nonprofit Saving Children's Lives With Song

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — What if you could save a child's life with just a song? One Forest Hills-based nonprofit is dedicated to doing just that.

The Songs of Love Foundation, a national organization founded in 1996, composes personalized, original songs to uplift children and teens facing difficult medical, physical or emotional issues — from terminal illnesses to depression and trauma — and every song is free of charge.

Each song includes the child's name and reference to his or her favorite things, people, pets and activities. Songs are written and performed in any language and musical style or genre of the child's choosing. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Make no mistake, Songs of Love founder John Beltzer has no misconceptions on the actual healing properties of his nonprofit's work. But with so much focus on raising awareness and money for cures for life's various life-threatening illnesses and lifelong disabilities, Beltzer says that the immediate needs of suffering children are often overlooked.

"Music is medicine. Years ago, I contacted St. Jude's [Children's Hospital] for a list of kids who were hospitalized at the time, and they gave me some promotional stickers with the names and bios of some of the patients," said Beltzer.

"I wrote and recorded songs for [the kids] and sent them back to St. Jude's, and then I got this call from one of the kids' moms — a 5-year-old girl with cancer — and the girl got on the phone and said, 'thank you for my songs.' It blew my mind. I cried for like half an hour."

Up until that point, Beltzer had been pursuing a recording contract, an endeavor that stemmed from the very story upon which the Songs of Love Foundation is based.

Beltzer had been a musician for a number of years alongside his brother, Julio. The two were in a band together; Julio played the drums, and Beltzer was the lead singer.

But then Julio was diagnosed with schizophrenia and, sometime thereafter, committed suicide.

Two months before Julio died, Beltzer says his brother had written and recorded a song called "Songs of Love."

The Songs of Love Foundation has composed songs for 27,732 children as of July 19, as indicated by a live tracker on the Songs of Love website.

Beltzer says the foundation's success is made possible through the more than 500 singer-songwriters that the nonprofit has collaborated with over the years as well as a recent $1 million grant from the Leon & Toby Cooperman Family Foundation.

This donation, as well as all other contributions received, will allow Songs of Love to increase outreach to an additional 1,000 children every year.

With every dollar contributed by other donors, the amount is doubled each year until a $250,000 cap, Beltzer says.

All donations, Beltzer emphasizes, help to sustain the foundation's mission of creating more songs for kids across the country.

To further support its vision, the foundation also hosts the annual Swing and Sing golf outing, wherein donating participants sing a Songs of Love child's song after each tee.

"Unfortunately, every year, there are newly diagnosed children with all types of illnesses. We'd just like to help as many of them as we can," says Beltzer.

To donate to the Songs of Love Foundation, visit the nonprofit's website.

Images courtesy of Songs of Love Foundation/Lead image features John Beltzer and actress Amandla Stenberg with a Songs of Love recipient