YAMAHA AND GUITAR CENTER HELP FEED THE HUNGRY

—Yamaha Staff Tune Guitars for Food Drive—

BUENA PARK, CA (December 6, 2002)—Guitar Center and Yamaha Corporation of America helped feed the hungry at an event held in late November, The Guitar Tune-Up Food Drive. Donated food items were earmarked to benefit the Chicago Food Depository—a not-for-profit food distribution center working to feed more than 309,000 adults and children in Cook County (IL) annually.

Yamaha district managers Dan Hansen and Albert Gore tune and polish guitars during food drive.

Yamaha representatives were on hand during the three-hour food drive, held at Guitar Center's Villa Park (IL) location to tune, restring and polish guitars and basses, whether electric or acoustic. The only payment required was for an individual to bring one non-perishable food item. Participants could also enter to win a Yamaha FG413SB Acoustic Guitar—a drawing held at each Chicagoland Guitar Center location, with one lucky winner. A total of five guitars were given away.

"What we did with tuning and restringing was so little compared to how much the food drive helped hungry people," says Dan Hansen, Yamaha district sales manager. "It's such a humbling experience to be involved in something so important. I'm proud to be part of an organization like Yamaha who assists music dealers like the Guitar Center with charitable efforts like the Chicago Food Depository to give back to those in need."

Since 1979, the Depository, one of the largest food banks in the country, has been committed to distribute donated and purchased food through qualified agencies such as soup kitchens, shelters and pantries. Last year, the Food Depository distributed 36.1 million pounds of food, valued at more than $54 million—the equivalent of 74,400 meals a day, 365 days a year.

For more information, contact Yamaha Corporation of America, Professional Audio & Combo Division, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622, telephone 714-522-9011, email infostation@yamaha.com or visit www.yamaha.com.