Pocono News Section

Buffalo Valley Singers Concert to Honor Veterans

Buffalo Valley Singers Concert to Honor Veterans - Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 04:03AM EST

Reported by: Eyewitness News
Thursday May 20 2010
Rallying round the flags to support U. S. troops abroad will be the Buffalo Valley Singers and West Branch Barbershop Chorus at upcoming benefit concerts. Entitled Festival of American Music the concerts will be held on May 22 at 7:30 PM and May 23 at 3:00 PM at St. Johns United Church of Christ, 1050 Buffalo Road (Route 192) in Lewisburg. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Mifflinburg Area Military Moms Association (MAMMA) which sends care packages, cards and letters to local service members stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Veterans and current military members and their families are especially invited to attend the concerts and will be recognized when the theme song of their branch of the service is sung. Other patriotic music will include the Star Spangled Banner, Battle Hymn of the Republic, God Bless America, Festival of Freedom, Over There and Who Are the Brave Men. Nostalgic American music, such as Ashokan Farewell (from Ken Burns Civil War series), Alexanders Ragtime Band, What a Wonderful World (from Good Morning Vietnam), Id Like to Teach the World to Sing, and Whatll I Do will be included. Two songs from Buffalo Valley Singers March concert If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking (from a poem by Emily Dickinson) and Look Up, Way Down (words by Mattie Stepanek), music by Pepper Choplin round out the whole chorus selections. Soloists and small ensembles will also sing. Concert attendees can enter a drawing to receive a free CD of the Buffalo Valley Singers 2010 spring concerts. The winner will be selected at intermission. Admission is a suggested minimum donation of $5 at the door. Under the direction of Matt Poremsky, who is also in Buffalo Valley Singers, the West Branch Barbershop Chorus will make their first guest appearance with BVS singing Darkness on the Delta, When Im 64, Aura Lee/Love Me Tender, Irish Blessing, Sitting on Top of the World, and America the Beautiful as well as singing with BVS. This 34-member group is part of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Singing in America. Singing a cappella in close harmony, the non-profit chorus donates part of their proceeds to school vocal music groups in the Susquehanna Valley. Anne Smith, one of the organizers of MAMMA, says the group began in 2003 with a spaghetti dinner fundraiser served to 500 people to help a Mifflinburg couple whose son had lost a leg from a roadside bomb explosion in the Iraq War. Since then, she says, we have supplied more than 2,000 lbs. of goodies to troops from the Susquehanna Valley serving overseas. We conducted a Knit Your Bit campaign connecting senior citizens with service men and women by having them knit 600 pairs of socks, hats, scarves and gloves. Each service member received two gift-wrapped articles - one to keep and one to gift to an Iraqi or Afghan child. We have placed a new roof on the home of a Marine wife, built a ramp for another injured vet, and given hundreds of dollars in funding to service members in need of travel money or other expenses which arise from their being deployed. We have sent school supplies to Afghanistan to aid our troops in their mission. Perhaps the most valuable connection we make is the one that stems from a constant stream of letters from school children and others who write regularly to the troops and whose letters accompany our care packages. For more information about Buffalo Valley Singers or the May concerts, contact Mary Marshall, president, at 523-1340, or Judy Patton, publicity coordinator, at 966-4770.