Jennifer Wesco has looked into one too many sets of heartbroken children’s eyes.

The Lawrence vocalist works at Hume Music and rents band instruments to area schoolchildren. Sometimes parents and children leave the store empty-handed because they can’t afford the monthly rental fees or have a checkered credit history.

Jennifer Wesco is the executive director of Music Access, a nearly year-old nonprofit organization seeking funding to provide music lessons and instruments to children who couldn't afford them otherwise.

Breaking the bad news to families set Wesco thinking of a way to get instruments into the hands of all children. Music Access emerged as a solution.

The fledgling nonprofit it will be a year old on Oct. 3 provides instruments and music lessons to children based on what their families can afford to pay. Wesco said the service already had begun to fill a gap in the community.

“Food and shelter aren’t enough,” she said. “We all need something that helps our spirit. Music is practically universal. Who doesn’t love music?”

Twelve-year-old Robert Curtis does, even though he’s one of the only male flute players at Central Junior High School.

“It’s kind of creepy,” he said.

Curtis had been borrowing an instrument until a few days ago, when his mother, Paula Curtis, heard about Music Access.

As a single parent on a fixed income, Curtis qualified for free rental and agreed to do some volunteer work for Music Access in exchange.

“If it weren’t for the program, he (Robert) couldn’t play,” she said. “I think that’s fantastic.”

So does Robert.

“It makes me feel better to actually have my very own flute,” he said.

Several other students also are playing in school bands and orchestras with Music Access instruments. Most clients pay between $5 and $15 monthly based on income. Instruments at Hume Music rent for $30 a month, Wesco said.

A $1,000 grant from First Presbyterian Church allowed Music Access to buy five used instruments a flute, a clarinet, a trumpet, a trombone and a full-sized violin. Two guitars, a piano and another flute were donated to the organization. Music Access is looking for even more instruments.

A rock ‘n’ roll history class it offered last summer was so popular about 15 people paid to learn the highlights of the genre from the 1950s through the 1990s that Music Access next month is offering another class, this one about the Beatles. Fees collected from the classes help fund Music Access programs.

Proceeds that don’t go toward buying instruments help pay for music lesson teachers. As Music Access grows, it hopes to bring more instructors on board. In addition to Wesco, who is teaching a student how to sing and play the piano, the organization has paid just one other teacher who gave group guitar lessons last spring to youngsters at the Boys and Girls Club.

Eventually, Music Access hopes to expand its services to people of all ages and abilities. For now, Wesco and her six-member board are happy to be providing children with access to music.

Paula Curtis is glad her son, Robert, is one of them.

“It’s been very good for him,” she said.