Jane Zehnder of Risen Savior Lutheran Church presents a check to Sun Lakes Chorale President.
Yvonne Orlich
By the time this goes to print, we will have presented our 2024 Holiday Concert. Coverage of that will be in our next article.
In the meantime, while our rehearsals wind down, we keep busy. A lot of what we do outside of weekly rehearsals involves our members volunteering. Without volunteers, we would definitely struggle to get everything done. The last Tuesday of November and the first two Tuesdays in December we had volunteers working at the entrance to Ace Hardware selling tickets for the aforementioned Holiday Concert. All those Holiday Concert signs you saw around Sun Lakes were installed by volunteers. Some of our members even volunteer their spouse or significant other to give of their time to print name tags for new members, to act as ushers at the concert, and to sell tickets at the door to accommodate those last-minute attendees. We had a member volunteer to step up and handle the ordering of new Sun Lakes Chorale shirts. Another member volunteered (well, she was asked, but agreed) to book a room at Sun Lakes Country Club for our annual February dinner. It’s a group effort, and we thank all those members who give of their time to promote and work for the betterment of the organization.
In November, we were fortunate to be the recipients of a generous grant awarded by the Greater Sun Lakes Community Foundation. Some of our board members met with the Foundation members at Oakwood where we received a check for our grant. This generous organization works diligently hosting fundraisers to keep their grant coffers full in order to benefit many groups and organizations throughout the Sun Lakes communities. We greatly appreciate their continued support, not only for the Chorale, but for the many other worthwhile organizations in Sun Lakes.
Risen Savior Lutheran Church is another philanthropic group. After their annual rummage sale, they also give donations to Sun Lakes groups and organizations who they feel are deserving because of their outreach to the community. This is the second year that we received a generous donation from Risen Savior, and we are so very grateful. In December, our president met with Jane Zehnder to accept the donation and express our gratitude.
Pre-concert, our members gathered at the Palo Verde patio on Dec. 9, following our last regular season rehearsal, for an informal get-together. And on Dec. 14 more than 15 members got together to sing Christmas carols at the annual Diamond Lake Food Drive & Luminaria Walk. So, the year ends on a busy note—pardon the pun. We thank everyone in the Chorale and all those in the community who continue to support us, and we wish you all a safe and happy new year.