While many community members have donated their time, cash or food and clothing items to hurricane victims, a Charleston business owner is taking a different approach.

Therese Kincade, owner of What’s Cookin’ on Seventh Street and Madison Avenue, has started a musical instrument drive for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

“When you think about New Orleans, you think about wonderful food and wonderful music,” Kincade said. “We imagined all the musicians, both amateur and professional, who had lost everything, including their instruments.”

Kincade said the idea occurred to her Sept. 4, as she was listening to WILL radio, a station sanctioned by the University of Illinois.

A representative from the Tipitina’s Foundation was being interviewed, she said.

Tipitina’s Foundation is a non-profit group from New Orleans that specializes in music education and awareness.

As of late, Tipitina’s has focused on putting instruments back in the hands of musicians that lost theirs in the hurricane.

“We happened to have a trumpet that we weren’t using, and we wondered if someone else could use it,” Kincade said. “So I e-mailed them and asked if they could use a trumpet.”

Jennifer Pickering, executive director of the Laden Arts Festival, an associate of Tipitina’s, responded with a resounding yes.

Since then, Kincade has accepted used instruments as well as financial donations to help tend to shipping costs of the instruments to New Orleans.

“We’ve had more than a dozen instruments pledged and are waiting for more recipients,” Pickering said.

One man who will not have to wait long before music returns to his life is Mark LaMaire, a part-time musician and displaced Katrina victim who currently resides in Oak Lawn.

Kincade said that she and her daughter will be hand-delivering LaMaire his new guitar this Saturday.

“I was overjoyed to find out I’d be receiving a new guitar,” LaMaire said. “My life feels incomplete when I’m not able to play music. It’s as if a big part of me is missing.”

Pickering said the Tipitina’s Foundation has collected nearly 75 instruments.

“Receiving this generous gift is one of the greatest things that’s happened to me since my life was turned upside down by Hurricane Katrina,” LaMaire said.

Those interested in donating an instrument or contributing money to aid with shipping costs can contact What’s Cookin’ at (217) 345-7427.