(On April 13, 2025, A Choired Afternoon filled the sanctuary at St. Thomas Anglican Church with choral music performed by five local choirs who came together to support Lunchbox for All. Photos: Bonnie McNally)
A festival of choral music took place on April 13th, bringing the Goulbourn Male Chorus, Glen Cairn United Church and three Stittsville church choirs together – St. Thomas Anglican, St. Andrews Presbyterian and Stittsville United Church. Coming from a variety of backgrounds, the choirs sang music that was both sacred and secular. With diverse harmonies and backgrounds, the sanctuary at St. Thomas Anglican Church was filled with glorious music during the afternoon concert. For the final songs, the choirs joined together under the direction of Scott Auchinleck, Director of the Goulbourn Male Chorus, to sing ‘On Eagle’s Wings’ and “A Clare Benediction’.
The concert, called “A Choired Afternoon”, collected $1,300 from its audience in a freewill offering that will be given to the charity, ‘Lunchbox for All’. This amount will provide 260 nutritious lunches for school children in need.
Nicole Stoica and her husband established the not-for-profit organization, ‘Lunchbox for All‘, when they identified a need in our community for the provision of nutritious school lunches for children from food-challenged families. Nicole shared, “More than a mission, this is our passion. In recent years, we’ve seen a drastic increase in the number of children who attend a full day of school on an empty stomach. Through conversations with parents, teachers and our own school-aged kids, we feel the situation is becoming more serious by the day, and feel driven to do something about it. Recent statistics show that almost 38% of our young population already lives below the poverty line, and the current economy is making the situation worse.”
The inspiration to hold such a concert and support various charities throughout the years was initially the brainchild of St. Thomas Outreach Chair Bonnie McNally and Pat Brush back in 2017.
Plans are already being made for next year’s concert. A Choired Afternoon is an opportunity for residents to hear some wonderful choral music in a setting with an ecclesiastical atmosphere and a worthy purpose for the proceeds from the concert.