A while ago I went to an event in Huger, SC with one of our music engineers. As soon as we arrived we knew this event would be different than the recording we ordinarily do.

We had already been informed it was a church anniversary party, but it ended up it was that and a lot more.

The first person I encountered was a very nice woman who introduced herself as Keisha. I soonfound out that Keisha and the children of the Richardson Starlight Singers were the ones sponsoring this celebration.

Each year an anniversary celebration and one of the members is in charge of organizing all aspects of what is going to behappening that year.

initiallythere was a trickle of peoplearriving, but before I knew it there were approximately 100 people assembled with each other to view this charming choir perform and rejoice in their love of their church and God.

As I looked around I noticed that there was a car with Maryland tags on it. Because this is a military town it is not strange to see out-of-state tags, but this van had no base sticker.

I asked the lady driving if she and her two companions had really come down from Maryland. She told me that she lives in Rosedale, and one of the other passengers live not too far from Parkville. It happens that this is where I was raised, so it was fun to meet someone from up there.

Every year this group of ladies make the drive down to join the anniversary celebration. I told her this seemed like a wonderfulchurch. That is when she explained to me that all the people in attendance were family.

Not only was this an anniversary celebration for a church, but it was also a family get-together! This is a family that holds Christianity in high esteem. It was a wonderful sight to see!

As I discussed the event with Keisha I ascertained all the hard work she had done to put together a wonderful event.

She had a jump castle for the kids. The screams of delight and the childrens laughter made it very obvious that it was a huge success.

She also had a blood drive that she invited the entire neighborhood to participate in. The Red Cross brought their adorned bus and parked in the front of the school to attract anyone passing to join in.

Keisha explained to me that she has a blood disease (sickle cell) that requires her to receive blood monthly. Therefore it just seemed logical to do what she could to help blood donation. I thought it was a wonderful idea!

The blood drive was scheduled to begin at 12:00. By 11:45 there was already a line to give blood. One young man of about 16 mistook me as someone who was with the blood drive and asked if he was old enough to give and how often he could give. This young man really wanted to give!

I was overjoyed to see the outpouring of kindness from so many people who wanted to help the community. Many of them were young adults. It made me proud to know that even the youth in our area had so much love in their heart.

All this time the set up for the event was going on around us. Food was being brought in and Jerritt, our sound engineer, was going back and forth making sure that all of the sound equipment inside was set up for him to record,

The school had allowed Keisha to use their multi-purpose room for the event. It included an room for the family to eat, a seating area to watch the choral group concert and, of course, the stage for the choir to use for their show.

As Jerritt was setting up to record the choir we had many people stopping to see who we were and what we were doing. There was plenty of excitement when they found out that they would have a chance to do their own recording after the concert.

The choir soon began and what an enjoyable concert! As the youngsters sang the first song the audience began to clap to the rhythm and a few began to sing along with the choir.

Everyone was grinning (including me) and a few of us were even starting to dance a little. This kind of celebration brings such joy to so many.

After the concert all of the guests were invited to do their own recording in the mobile sound studio. Each group was brought into the studio, the truck was closed up to keep exterior sounds out and each group, or person was allowed to record something of their choice .

This was a different activity than most events have and it created a lot of interest. There was a very long line of people waiting for their turn to record.

They were allowed to record anything they wanted. A song, a joke, a poem, just thoughts in their mind. Each recording was put onto a CD for the person or group to take home.

They could even copy it to share with others or put it on the internet to share with the world. Part of the fun was making up names so that each group would be easy to identify. Angela became the "manager" and did an excellent job of keeping the order of when each group or person was to have their turn.

Almost everyone chose to sing a song. The music (without words) had been brought by Angela There was also a list to make a choice from so that it was easy to find . The organization and attention to detail that these ladies did was phenomenal!

There was so much laughter it was sometimes difficult to hear the names chosen for each group to record under being called. I don't remember them all, but I will say that Antifoniq was able to record The Supremes and at one point there was a group named Earth, Wind and Fire. One of the largest groups in line to record had names themselves BSE Entertainment.

While everyone enjoyed all aspects of the get together, I think that the recording studio was one of the biggest hits . It was very different from the typical activities of a get together like this one. And many people had the opportunity to be a star, if even for a moment.

Many thanks to Keisha and the Richardson Starlight Singers for allowing us to play a part in a happy, inspiring event!