Brook Mays Music Group Establishes Disaster Relief Fund for Employees Affected by Hurricane Katrina

Brook Mays Music Group Establishes Disaster Relief Fund
for Employees Affected by Hurricane Katrina
Dallas, TX - Brook Mays Music Group (BMMG) announced today that they have established a disaster relief fund of over $50,000 to support their Louisiana employees that were affected by Hurricane Katrina. The music retailer has two stores in the New Orleans area that were directly in the path of the storm.
BMMG will use the fund to help financially support their Louisiana employees affected by Hurricane Katrina as well as to make a donation to the American Red Cross. The disaster relief fund will be distributed to employees from the Slidell and Metairie, LA Brook Mays stores over the next 4 weeks. In addition, BMMG has also begun taking up a voluntary collection among all employees.

BMMG is also working with their displaced employees to find them positions in other locations in the company. Additional locations as far away as Houston have become temporary work places for several employees. Most employees have indicated that they are ready and willing to go back to work in New Orleans once the stores can be reopened.

"We have such dedicated employees in these stores that really put their hearts into our business every day," said Jim Tener, President and COO of Brook Mays Music Group. "It is unthinkable what many of them have gone through and we hope that this fund can help them get back on their feet in this time of great need."

In addition to the internal support for their employees, BMMG also announced that it is making arrangements to help out their customers that have been affected. BMMG is waiving any and all rental payments for the month of September for their rental customers in the affected area. These rental customers will begin seeing credits on their account as early as this week.

Brook Mays Music Group stores across the country are also acting as donation sites for people wishing to donate band and orchestra instruments for students that have been displaced and are in need of instruments. The LINKS program (Lonely Instruments Needing Kids) is something BMMG launched several years ago to help less fortunate children get into band and orchestra programs by organizing and donating instruments to these programs. BMMG takes instrument donations from the public, then completely repairs and refurbishes them, and turns them into playable instruments that are then distributed to needy children across the country all at no cost. People wishing to make instrument donations to the Brook Mays Music Group's LINKS program can call 1-877-PLAYONE to find the store closest to them.

Brook Mays Music Group is the largest full-line musical instrument retailer in the country with 63 stores in eight states. The company's product lines include band and orchestra instruments, guitars and amps, drums and percussion, pianos and keyboards, pro audio, DJ and lighting equipment, and related software. Brook Mays Music Group also offers musical instruction and instrument repairs. The company was founded in 1901.