John and Jan Martinka of Kirkland recently donated the first piano to The Salvation Army Eastside for its new grants project “Ten Grands” Seattle.

The heirloom dates to the 1930s when John’s mother bought it and taught her children to play. The Martinka children, now grown, also learned to play on it, but it was no longer being used, so when John heard about the program during a presentation at his Rotary Club, he decided to donate it.

During a brief ceremony to commemorate the gift, students in the after-school program at The Salvation Army Eastside took turns trying out the keyboard as Kathy Fahlman Dewalt, a second-generation piano teacher and the executive producer of “Ten Grands” Seattle gave them a short lesson.

The Salvation Army facility, located in Bellevue, serves Eastside families. It currently provides lessons on brass instruments and plans to add piano instruction as soon as volunteer teachers can be arranged.

Dubbed “Play it Forward,” the program of “gently used” donated pianos is an extension of a project that started in Portland 10 years ago as part of The Snowman Foundation’s mission to give the gift of music to children. The Foundation covers the costs for tuning and transporting the donated pianos to deserving organizations. More than 80 groups have received pianos since the program’s inception.