You’re probably asking yourself, “What’s the deal with the woman playing a piano?” And, if you’re not asking that question, you’re too incurious for your own good.

Anyway, I got a very interesting e‑mail from a lady called Jessica Pieciul (who I assume works for Hometown Helper in some capacity) about a grant program being run by the nice people at Hamburger Helper. It’s called My Hometown Helper and they provide grants to improve hometowns across America. Their site says that, so far, they’ve handed out almost $250k to 53 projects across the country and they recently opened the 2008 program for applications. As Jessica writes…

…as of February 1st, people looking to improve their hometown–for things such as helping fund a volunteer fire department, to restoring a town landmark or supporting a local school–are encouraged to submit to the My Hometown Helper grant program. From now until March 31st, communities seeking support can visit www.MyHometownHelper.com to apply online for a one-time grant to help fund a local project…

Another cool piece of info — one of the projects helped last fall, Chesapeake High School (read their submission here: http://www.myhometownhelper.com/ViewProject.aspx?id=28759) held an event on January 30th to unveil the new piano that they were able to purchase with their $4,000 grant. I’ve attached an image of Dr. Rachel Franklin, a jazz champer pianist, who played the new piano in a mini-concert for the students.

And that’s why you see a nice lady playing the piano on this page! I don’t know more about the grant program than the information above but it seems legit’ to me.