Philanthropy
With a desire to get involved and give back to the community where he grew up, Thayer was elected to the Board of Trustees at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon in September 2005.
Through 2006 and 2007, Thayer has continued his interest in helping inspire kids with a commitment to support school programs, particularly in music. He arranged for new musical instruments to be donated to jump-start ailing school band programs in Oregon. Thayer has made appearances at middle and high schools in Forest Grove, Hillsboro, and Lake Oswego, Oregon speaking to students with hopes that they will follow their dreams and accomplish all that they aspire to do. More recently in February 2010, Thayer & Kiss were featured in ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition helping a family in need with new instruments for their home-based, non-profit music school.
Kiss's continued dedication to the support of US military stationed abroad inspired the band to headline Rockin' the Corps, a massive outdoor concert in 2005 at Camp Pendleton, California dedicated to the US Marines and US Military personnel stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In March 2007, Thayer and Gene Simmons visited the Marines of Camp Pendleton again, and members of the US Army, US Navy and US Air Force, to honor their commitment to the United States with a rally and live performance featuring a medley of the armed forces anthems that was filmed for an hour-long Gene Simmons Family Jewels TV special on A&E that aired on Memorial Day 2007.
In summer 2007, Thayer's passion for golf inspired the now annual Pacific University Legends Golf Classic. The premier golf and entertainment event features Thayer along with a line-up of Professional Golfers Association pros and other celebrity friends and musicians who help raise money for Pacific University's Athletics Program in Oregon. Legends has continued for five successful years now with the likes of Gene Simmons, John Daly, George Lopez, Don Felder, Robby Krieger, Darius Rucker and Clint Black participating in and supporting the event.
Thayer donates all royalties earned from sales of his Hughes & Kettner signature guitar amplifier to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles to support of the important medical needs of sick and injured children. Thayer announced the launch of his own Hughes & Kettner Tommy Thayer Signature Edition guitar amplifier in 2008.
In 2012, Thayer was actively involved in the organization of the exclusive fundraising event, All-Star Salute to the Oregon Military which took place May 18 at The Oregon Golf Club in West Linn, Oregon. The event was the kick-off of the two-year $6.5 million capital campaign to raise funds in support of the new Oregon Military Museum that will be named in honor of Thayer's father, Brigadier General James B. Thayer Sr. Other notable Oregonians attending the event included Honorary Co-Chairs, Oregon Governors Victor G. Atiyeh (1979-1987), Ted Kulongoski (2003-2011), as well as Peter Jacobsen, Bill Schonely and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Robert D. Maxwell.
Read more about this topic: Tommy Thayer
Famous quotes containing the word philanthropy:
“I shall not be forward to think him mistaken in his method who quickest succeeds to liberate the slave. I speak for the slave when I say that I prefer the philanthropy of Captain Brown to that philanthropy which neither shoots me nor liberates me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Almost every man we meet requires some civility,—requires to be humored; he has some fame, some talent, some whim of religion or philanthropy in his head that is not to be questioned, and which spoils all conversation with him. But a friend is a sane man who exercises not my ingenuity, but me.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“... the hey-day of a woman’s life is on the shady side of fifty, when the vital forces heretofore expended in other ways are garnered in the brain, when their thoughts and sentiments flow out in broader channels, when philanthropy takes the place of family selfishness, and when from the depths of poverty and suffering the wail of humanity grows as pathetic to their ears as once was the cry of their own children.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)