Our studio has faced its fair share of challenges over the years. We’ve moved locations, built new classrooms, tackled virtual lessons during COVID. This last April, Globalsound Studio faced another hurdle that many of you may seen on our social media – the theft of our 1998 Ford Econoline gig van.
On Sunday April 4th (Easter Sunday, of all days!) our gig van was stolen from the Globalsound parking lot. The theft was actually the SECOND attempt on the van that weekend – Director Mateo MacDonald stopped the first attempted theft the Saturday before. The thieves were brazen enough to come back on Sunday and successfully make off with our van.
Our gig van is a crucial part of our Advanced Band Program. Without it, we have no way of reliably transporting our students’ instruments, amps, mics, stands, and stage banners across town. We also need room to transport our mixer, PA system, and necessary cables if the venue does not have a sound system. All this gear takes up quite a bit of space – imagine fitting all of that into a compact car. Our load ins and loads out also take much less time with an organized system that accounts for what our students need to put on a successful show. All this to say, the loss of our van was a major blow.
The van theft goes viral and makes the news
Hoping that a few kind folks would keep an eye out for the van, we made a post about the theft in on April 5thn. A GoFundMe was created to help with the cost of replacing the van.
Our post about the stolen van was viewed thousands of times and shared by hundreds of fellow students, teachers, and parents. We quickly received many generous donations to our GoFundMe. We are beyond humbled and grateful for your outpouring of support!
A friend of ours even connected us with Fox News and Channel 2, both of which featured the van theft on the evening news. Here’s Mateo being interviewed for the news segment:
The theft was even featured in a write-up on Fox News:
Our van is finally found!
Finally our Globalsound gig van turned up! The van fortunately had a tracking chip installed in it, which sent a ping on April 11th in Denver. We called the police and hurried downtown, and FINALLY were reunited with the van!
It took a little work to get the van back up to the studio. The thieves unfortunately stole the catalytic converter off of it, which will have to be replaced. However, it is working and we expect the repairs to go smoothly.
Once again, we want to thank each and every one of you for spreading the word about our van. We believe that the increased exposure from your involvement helped us get the van back. The thieves may not have ditched the van if so many of you hadn’t stepped up to support us! From the bottom our hearts, thank you so much for your time and generosity.
We’ve cancelled the GoFundMe and refunded all of your generous donations. The van is back out on the road again and we have more gigs lined up for the summer.
Now we think we need a nickname for our infamous van. Got any suggestions?
