GladSong Community Choir raises funds

WENATCHEE - The community inspirational choir GladSong has helped seven charities raise almost $39,000 with 10 concerts since May and wraps its second season with one more benefit performance on December. 4. That public concert is 6:30 p.m. at Wenatchee’s First Assembly of God Church. Free donations will all go to Serve Wenatchee for its Baskets of Blessing program providing food for Fresh Hope Market serving people in need.   
“I went to a GladSong concert, the one for the chaplains at Grace City, and I found it to be really upbeat and fun. I really liked that they sang such variety — pop, country, jazz, and gospel. You can tell the singers enjoy it. It comes across,” said Connie Hughes, a Serve Wenatchee board member.
Fresh Hope Market, 12 N. Orondo Ave., has fresh deli items, frozen meats, canned and boxed food that qualifying people choose from, she said.
“This is the kind of program we love supporting,” said Tim Meyer, GladSong, director. “The results of this season have exceeded our expectations and the cool thing is we get to sing to do it. All of the choir is enjoying themselves immensely, being able to sing in a quality group and at the same time being able to do some good in the community.”
Meyer previously led church choirs and directed Wenatchee’s Apollo Club, a community men’s chorale, from 2005 to 2015.
Meyer and his wife, Alice, started GladSong in June of 2021 with a goal of “encouraging the singer, inspiring the listener and benefiting the community.”  
The choir began with 21 singers, several from Apollo Club, and now has 35.
“There are a lot fewer church choirs than there used to be and the Covid pandemic shut down everything for a while. Singers needed places to sing,” Meyer said. Several other Wenatchee community choirs are in varying stages of post-pandemic renewal.
GladSong performed three times in 2021 but was not yet raising money for charities. It took a three-month winter break, resuming weekly rehearsals in March.
The second season opener was May 1 in Wenatchee’s Memorial Park for the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival.
That was followed by a well-attended May 22 performance at Grace Lutheran Church that raised about $23,000 for Ukrainian refugees locating in Wenatchee.
“It was so good to have success on our first fundraiser. It set a pretty high bar and was mostly due to the tremendous work by Friends of Ukraine Refugees,” Meyer said.  
Subsequent performances raised up to $3,800 apiece for:
— Wenatchee Rescue Mission, formerly Hospitality House, to create space for doctors to treat residents.  
—  Pacific Northwest Lutheran Women’s Missionary League for missions’ projects.
— North Central Washington and Chelan County Regional Jail chaplain ministries to help pay for out-of-town training for chaplains.
— The Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society to improve North Central Washington family history and historical collections.
— A group of people from Leavenworth churches, known as Backpackers of Icicle Creek, providing weekend food for school children in need.
— Wenatchee’s Garden Terrace Senior Living Facility to help with elevator expenses.
Beside raising funds for charitable organizations, GladSong seeks to inspire the listeners with familiar pop tunes and positive gospel messages of hope from a repertoire of 22 memorized songs.
After December 4, GladSong takes a break and resumes rehearsals in March. It has a tentative booking for an April concert and welcomes other prospects at GladSong.org.