J.A.R.E.D. Foundation raises funds, promotes music

A 501c(3) non-profit in honor of Jared Lizakowski, a 19-year-old Niwot resident who died in an Oct. 2016 motorcycle accident, has been established by his parents.

Lizakowski’s mother and stepfather, Renae and Surinder Dahiya, along with Jared’s father, Jerry Lizakowski, founded the “Join A Revolution Educate Drummers and other musicians” — or the J.A.R.E.D. Foundation, to accomplish several objectives in Jared’s memory.

“Our goals are to provide music education and lessons through scholarships for needy students,” Surinder said. “It’s focusing on students who need financial help, those on reduced lunch or things like that.

“This is all in memory of our son Jared. He was very creative, loved music and loved helping other people. After he died, we decided to set this up.”

The first goal is to set up a scholarship fund for students to get lessons on any musical instrument.

The second goal is to collect instruments, used or new, and get them into the hands of young students eager to learn, but without the means to do so.

They also plan to work with schools, parents and students to give out lesson information and connect the students with various studios to set up lessons.

Surinder said that while J.A.R.E.D. is relatively new, they are looking to become more involved in bigger capacities.

“We’re definitely looking for both students and studios to sign up,” Surinder said. “As we get more and more funding, we will expand and be able to do more.

“We can go to multiple studios. We want to get as many people participating as possible.”

They have already held a kickoff event, and were the tip jar recipient at Rock & Rails in Niwot last month, and a chair downtown has been painted in Jared’s honor with a dedication ceremony to come soon.

“We would like to thank all the people who donated at Rock & Rails on June 29,” Surinder said. “We would also like to thank Ellen Haswell for donating her time and skills to paint the chair. She invested a lot of time in understanding Jared and capturing his spirit through the art featured on the chair.”

They will have another event from 4 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 9 at 300 Suns Brewery in Longmont, called “Remember in September.”

The venue is family friendly, take a folding chair to hear Jared’s band Twenty Year (formerly Twenty Year Push), along with other local bands that he knew.

Food will be served and T-shirt pre-sales will begin next month. They are looking for sponsors who will be included on banners or businesses who want to have a booth. Visit http://www.educatedrummers.org for information.

The board of directors for the J.A.R.E.D. Foundation is comprised of parents of members of Jared’s band, with one member of the board being a friend and Twenty Year bandmate.

“We think this honors his memory,” Surinder said. “Music is really what he was into. He enjoyed it a lot and it opened up his creative instincts.

“I think we want to make it possible for kids who otherwise might not have had the opportunity to be exposed to music and see if they want to pursue that further.”

Surinder said that though he’s not a musician himself, he always admired Jared’s devotion to the art.

“I come from kind of an engineering and mathematics background,” Surinder said. “So for me, I was always in awe of Jared’s talent. It was something I could never really do. He just amazed me with what he could do and what he was accomplishing. We are very proud of him.”

Surinder said that the community and the relationships built have been very helpful for not only the foundation, but for the family.

“He had a lot of friends,” Surinder said. “He always looked out for others and was there to support them. He was very giving.

“We got a lot of support from the community and other people to get this off the ground. We are in our infancy. The community has always been very supportive. I think we probably were close to setting a record at Rock & Rails (about $1,500 was raised). That was a great outpouring of support. I think as the word spreads, it will get better and we’ll be able to do more good.”

Aside from the website with a newsletter, the organization is also on Facebook and Twitter, @educatedrummers.