Meet Randi and Alan Salkowitz
Get to know our Featured Volunteer from New Jersey!
What Virtual Program do you volunteer with? We volunteer for the WXPN MOC Philadelphia Program
How long have you been volunteering with Musicians On Call? We’ve been volunteering for over 10 years
Are you volunteer guides or musicians? Musicians
What is your favorite song to play for patients? Somewhere Over the Rainbow or Stand By Me, for sure.
Which demographic do you love playing for and why? We enjoy the adult areas of the local Philly hospitals and also the VA. Our Lady of Lourdes is a special favorite as the patients tend to skew older, which dovetails nicely with our setlist
Do you have any livestreams or other performances coming up? Yes, we will be doing another volunteer session on Zoom for the Philly area, and we recently added the Virtual Senior Center to our list of virtual venues.
What is your occupation outside of MOC? We are both retired, but Alan teaches guitar, uke and bass part-time.
Do you have any hidden talents? We both are members of the Moorestown Theatre Company in NJ. Alan plays in the pit orchestra, and Randi performs on stage. We are just finishing up a run of The Sound Of Music with Alan playing bass and guitar and Randi as Sister Sophia.
What is your story? What connects you with music and why do you volunteer with MOC? We met when we were 17 at a party given by a mutual friend and have been together ever since. Alan started playing guitar when he was 12 and Randi has performed in musicals and sung in choir as far back as 9th grade. Music has always infused our lives. It has always been part of who we are and sharing it with others is a lifelong passion. Alan started volunteering with MOC from the very beginning when it began in the Philly area. Randi joined him shortly afterwards. Bringing music to people who are in a hospital is a total uplifting experience for us. We have brought people to happy tears of joy. Many times a patient will share how sad and lonely they were and just hearing one song has totally made their day.
