There are certainly no teardrops on this guitar after one of Taylor Swift’s instruments has been raffled off for thousands of dollars to help fund education in Arizona.
The Mesa, Arizona-based Shade Tree Academy, which specializes in serving students who have experienced early-onset trauma and have been impacted by foster care, held a charity raffle over the weekend to help raise money for the school’s new building.
One of the items up for grabs was a guitar that Swift used during The Eras Tour that had been donated to the school.
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The school raised $20,000 ahead of the night by selling 200 tickets each priced at $100, and then an additional $15,000 as the night went on, bringing the total funds raised to $35,000.
When the winning raffle ticket holder Michael Bennie was called to claim the guitar, he paid it forward by re-donating the item back to the school.
“We are so grateful to the community who jumped in to support us in providing hope, healing, and trauma-focused education for children that have been impacted by foster care,” Shade Tree told local outlet FOX 10 Phoenix in a statement. “Our support will help generations to come.”
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Shade Tree Academy can only enroll 10 students at a time, but the organization is hoping that with funding for the new building, the school can take in up to 100 students.
This was the first of its kind raffle and fundraiser for the school, which was founded in 2020.
