Last Saturday evening, Hammond Park was filled with yard signs, music, students hiding glowing Easter eggs and people with baskets ready for the hunt. Emporia State’s A Capella Choir hosted Glow Hunt to fundraise for a trip to Washington D.C.
The choir has been invited to participate in the Music Celebrations International for the 60th anniversary for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr “I Have a Dream” speech in Spring 2023 and will be the only choir representing Kansas. They are raising the funds through different events, including the Glow Hunt, and need to reach $63,000.
The fundraising event was inspired by Joshua Donaldson, interim choir director, who had hosted a similar fundraiser when he used to teach in a high school in Council Grove, which he considered a success.
“I figured, let’s try it here and see if it works,” Donaldson said. “So, this is the first time we’ve done anything like that this year, we’ve actually been very surprised and pleased that we’ve had so many already preregistered.”
Around 42 people pre-registered and more came up with their families and friends to register before the event began. Tickets for the Glow Hunt were $5 in pre-registration and $7 on-site registration.
“We’ve had every single choir member involved in this event,” said Kinsey Emery, president of the A Capella Choir and junior music education major. “They were put on certain committees, like we had an advertisement committee, we had a business committee, which would reach out to the local businesses and ask for those donations. And so, everyone was involved in every step.”
The A Capella Choir prepared 216 eggs and only 44 had prizes inside. The $800 worth of prizes were donations from different local businesses in Emporia as well as from their own department.
Drew Villaca, senior music education major, shared that he wanted to help the Fundraiser because before COVD-19 the Choir used to do a lot of visitations.
“They went on a trip to New York City, between my freshman and sophomore years. I didn’t go on it, unfortunately, because I was like, ‘there will be other trips,’” said, Villaca, “and then there weren’t other trips because the pandemic happened.”
The A Capella Choir will be continuing their fundraising with an Evening of Poetry featuring ESU Chamber Singers at 7 p.m. on April 30 at the Lyon County History Center.
