ON STAGE, colorful lights silhouette the four-man band delivering the best of Woodstock-era rock and Motown music. Fans travel with them back in time while investing in tomorrow, supporting the No Deposit Band’s give-back mission. 

If it’s the soundtrack of your youth, you easily remember returning bottles for reimbursement of the deposit collected at the time of sale. At the sight of the “No return. No Deposit.” stamp, you were out of luck if you were collecting bottles to line your pockets. For Jackie Hagan, one of the No Deposit Band’s original members, it holds a little extra meaning.

According to the band’s website, Hagan purchased his first Truetone electric guitar and 10-watt Truetone amp at his hometown Western Auto Store using the layaway plan. Hagan and his bandmates scoured the ditches, collecting hundreds of pop bottles and loading wagons and bicycle baskets full of them to pay for his equipment. It was a deposit on the group’s future that continues to pay dividends today.

Hagan’s mother, Mary Lou Waller, inspired the group’s commitment to repaying kindness in the community. It is so important to them that all proceeds from their merchandise sales go toward the charities they run and support. The largest of these charities is the Mary Lou Waller Scholarship Fund. In the past three years, the No Deposit Band has donated over $30,000 in scholarships and in support of other charities. All of that work has been in memory of and to honor Waller.

Hagan said his mother was raised on Elvis and always loved music. She was a great supporter as he learned to play guitar and later when he and his friends began playing together in high school as the No Deposit Band.

“She always loved to be able to hear me play whenever she could,” Hagan said.

After high school, the band members went their separate ways, but they reformed 40 years later to keep playing music and spreading their message: Be KIND for no reason.

Waller embodied that message well. She was a cafeteria worker at Tompkinsville Elementary School and had such an effect on the students there that they would run to give her a hug when they saw her elsewhere in town. Hagan said it was an amazing thing to see.

“She loved working there, and the kids grew up, and they never forgot her,” Hagan said. “She loved those kids.”

When Waller died in 2021, Hagan knew he needed to do something to keep her memory alive. The perfect solution was a scholarship that helped young musicians, artists, and good citizens in the community. The No Deposit Band Scholarship grew out of that effort, and the band, which was already a fan of giving back to the community, expanded its reach.

“I did not want her name to ever — her legacy to [ever] — fade away,” Hagan said. “I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to do a scholarship thing in my mom’s name,’ and I did. And so we started giving $500 scholarships to some kids.”

The band itself initially maintained the fund, but it was such a success that others wanted to donate to it. Soon, the Mary Lou Waller Scholarship Fund became its own 501(c)(3). The band and the fund have raised money for scholarships, children with cancer, Shop with a Cop, the Junior ROTC, and veterans.

“I just want to help people. It’s just something that I wish everybody did,” Hagan said. “It’s just the little things — just to do the little things, [and] just to be able to smile at somebody.”

All of that work, Hagan said, is a great thing to have done in his mother’s name.

“I can’t even begin to tell you what an honor it is to get to do it, and it’s just really grown,” Hagan said. “We’re going to do a lot of really, really special things.”

One of those special things will be the band’s annual fundraiser. It began as a one-time event to raise money for a child with cancer. The event raised over $10,000, and the band decided to keep the fundraiser going each year. Hagan also hopes to eventually be able to donate instruments to kids who want to learn music.

“I never dreamed that we would be where we’re at right now, so there’s no limit on what you can do,” Hagan said. “God just has a way of bringing things and people into your life that you just really don’t expect.”

Hagan said he doesn’t know where the No Deposit Band or the scholarships will go in the future, but he and his fellow band members have no intention of stopping.

“Our shirt says ‘Be KIND for no reason,’ and … we try to live by that,” Hagan said. “It’s not just a saying.” GN