By Greg Nikkel
The girls who comprise the singing group, “Spirit of Grace” at Grace United Church are excited that they will be appearing on stage for the Kinsmen Telemiracle telecast, and are preparing for a fundraiser concert in advance of that event.
Led by Kendra Gonczy, with Colleen Weimer accompanying on piano, the girls are busily rehearsing their songs, especially the song, “When I Grow Up”, which they will be performing on the provincial telecast on Sunday, March 4.
To raise funds for Telemiracle, they will be performing a Valentine’s concert on Sunday, Feb. 11 at Grace United Church, along with Small Voices of Grace, and the STARS Show Choir from the Comp School, starting at 3 p.m.
Aged seven to 10, the girls were energetic and noisy as they sat for a group interview to talk about their upcoming appearance at Telemiracle.
This will be their first time to appear on the telecast, but most of them have watched it in the past. For their leader, this will be a return appearance, as Kendra performed twice at Telemiracle as a high school student a decade ago, once with the STARS Show Choir, and once with the Comp’s Combined Choir, both led by her mother, Colleen Weimer.
Asked what they looked forward to the most, the girls provided answers like, “I’m excited to go on a large stage and be awesome”, “I’m excited to be famous!” and “I’m excited to raise money”.
Some of the girls have been singing with Kendra for four years now, having started in the musical “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat”, and then singing in Small Voices of Grace before continuing with the current group.
Asked what some of their favourite songs are, various answers were provided, such as “Now is the time”, “A Hard-Knock Life” from the musical Annie, “Part of Your World” from “Little Mermaid”, “Revolting Children”, “My New Philosophy” and “Here I Am to Worship”.
The girls like various aspects of performing, such as doing actions with the songs.
“I like making people’s days,” said one, and another added, “I like seeing the audience’s faces,” when asked what they enjoy most about singing on stage.
The Spirit of Grace includes Nevaeh Bell, Jyllian Payak, Brinlee Klapak, Houstyn Gerry, Brenna Verbeurgt, Brittany and Pressley Barber, Ryann Fleck, Lila Anderson, Mackenzie Calladine and Isabelle Cugnet.
Tickets for the fundraising concert on Feb. 11 are available at the church office or at the door, and are $10 for adults, $5 for children with children aged five and under free. The proceeds from the concert will go to Telemiracle, plus the group is willing to take along any pledges or donations from groups or schools to present at Telemiracle.
