The bench, in memory of Travis Foutz, is located at the band shell in Greenville City Park, near Greenville High School.
Tammy Watts | Daily Advocate
By Tammy Watts
DailyAdvocate.com
GREENVILLE — The Foutz Foundation dedicated a bench in Greenville City Park on Saturday, June 25. The nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization was founded four years ago in memory of Travis Foutz, a Greenville High School graduate, who had a lifelong love of music.
The Foutz Foundation provides musical instruments to children in grades K-12 who are not able to afford them. The all-volunteer organization relies on donations from the community, with 100 percent of the proceeds going towards the mission of putting instruments into the hands of children. Studies have proven that children who play music, perform better academically and socially. The Foutz Foundation believe every child should have the opportunity to live up to his or her potential.
Travis Foutz started playing trombone in fifth grade, and then at the age of 13, with only two formal guitar lessons, began to write and create his own music. He played electric guitar for jazz and pep band, and the trombone for concert, symphonic, and marching band. Tragically, Travis passed away in 2017.
“We wanted to take something very negative, and turn it into a positive,” said Brian Foutz, Travis’s brother, and President and Founder of the Foutz Foundation.
Along with the dedication of Travis’s memorial bench, the foundation held a raffle for a guitar. Karney the Clown entertained children, and the afternoon was complete with food trucks and music.
“It’s very fitting that Travis’s bench is here close to the high school where he played, and the band shell,” Brian stated.
For more information, to make a donation, or to apply for a free instrument, visit www.foutzfoundation.org.
Contact Daily Advocate Reporter Tammy Watts at [email protected].
