GladSong Choir raises funds for children in need with benefit concert

LEAVENWORTH - The GladSong Choir of Wenatchee will perform a benefit concert in support of the Leavenworth United Methodist Church's backpack program, which provides essential food support to children in need throughout the Cascade School District.

The concert, which will be held at the Snowy Owl Theater on Sunday, September 15, at 2 p.m., is part of a continued effort to raise funds for the program.

The Backpack program packs bags of nutritious food for students in Leavenworth on free and reduced lunches to take home to see them through the weekend, program volunteer and GladSong Choir member Eileen Groby said.

Judy Weaver, who leads the backpack program, emphasized the importance of providing consistent nutrition to children.

"Both Eileen and I are retired, but what we could tell you is kids do not do well in school without being well fed and have good nutritional support," Judy said. "And that's one of the other reasons that we're doing this without good food on the table, for these children, they will not do well in their classrooms. Obviously, we wanted to support families and the kids, but for us, in terms of how they're going to do through those school classes, this will make a ton of difference for them."

"And it does," Groby said. "The nutrition needs to be ongoing. You can't just feed the kids Monday through Friday and then nothing on the weekend. They're not going to be okay if you do that."

The program feeds more than 50 kids each week during the school year.

"Most of the bags run about anywhere between eight to $10 per bag because we only try to do nutritional kinds of things," Judy said. "We try to do a variety of things. Sometimes, we throw in a little Twinkie or two, but mostly, it's good things for kids with some protein and that sort of thing. 

"As a result, when you start multiplying those numbers with $10 a bag every week for 50 plus bags, we're looking at a pretty high price tag on that," she said.

Judy's husband, Strode Weaver, is also a member of the GladSong Choir and the "finance guy" for the United Methodist Church. 

"The target that we generally use is it costs us between 18 and $20,000 a year," Strode said. "So you can imagine that we're basically fundraising on an ongoing basis."

The backpack program relies on grants, donations, and fundraising efforts like the GladSong concert to continue its mission. 

Supporters include the Community Foundation of North Central Washington, the City of Leavenworth, the Women's Golf Tournament, the Women's Service League of Wenatchee, and Morgan Stanley.

Over the years, civic clubs and local churches have helped support the program as well, Strode said.

This will be the third consecutive year that the choir has performed at Snowy Owl to benefit the Backpack-Feed the Kids program. 

GladSong, now in its third year, was formed after the COVID-19 pandemic and has 35 members. The choir performs a wide range of music genres, including gospel, pop, jazz, and inspirational songs. 

"The whole purpose of the group and our mission statement is to inspire the listener, encourage the singer, and benefit the community," Strode said. "So the whole premise of this group is that we offer ourselves to nonprofits and charitable organizations within the region who wish to have benefit concerts to raise money for their cause."

The choir has raised over $100,000 in the last two and a half years for local charities and good causes throughout the region, Strode said.

"I think the success that we've had is really a reward in itself," he said. 

The concert is free to attend, with donations encouraged. All proceeds will go directly to the backpack program. Volunteers are also welcome to join the effort by helping to pack and deliver the backpacks each Wednesday morning during the school year.

For more information about the concert or to get involved with the backpack program, contact the United Methodist Church at 509-548-5619 or online at leavenworthumc.org.

Quinn Propst: 509-731-3590 or quinn@ward.media.