Lifestyles

The Pine Tones Chorus is preparing for a Christmas concert in Ocean City on Dec. 9.

Pines Tones to host Christmas concert Dec. 9

On Friday, Dec. 9, at 7:30 p.m. the Pine Tones Chorus will present a Christmas concert at Atlantic United Methodist Church in Ocean City, Baltimore Ave. and 4th Street.

The concert will open with its title song A Bit of holiday Cheer, a medley of festive holiday tunes such as Winter Wonderland, and Jungle Bell Rock. Popular songs of the season will include Blue Christmas by Elvis, and Sleigh Ride, frequently performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra.

Classical Christmas selections will feature Shepherds in the Fields, the Star of Bethlehem and the Child in the Manger. The song Love Came Down At Christmas presents lovely, dream-like musical themes.

A unique arrangement of Deck The Halls will imitate orchestral music from a Mozart composition. Most music fans will recognize this famous Mozart melody.

Unusual musical adaptations are also woven into We Three Kings and God Rest You Merry Gentlemen.

The Pine Tones Chorus includes about 45 singers from Ocean Pines, Ocean City, and nearby areas. June Todd and Jenny Anderson are the group’s directors and accompanists. Pete Anderson is assistant director/ accompanist.

Other instruments will also accompany the chorus with flute played by Barbara Dau and string bass played by Tom Baione.

Admission is free and an offering will be received. After the concert, guests may enjoy refreshments in the church social hall.

The Pine Tones Chorus has been entertaining local audiences in the Ocean Pines and Ocean City areas since 1984. For additional information, call the Chorus President, Dave Holloway, 410-641-5672, or June Todd, 443-880-3922.

Funding for Pine Tones Chorus activities has been from individual donations and patrons as well as the Worcester County Arts Council, Maryland State Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. These organizations are dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive.

Local group collecting food for Head Start program

Agroup of Ocean Pines residents are collecting items to help stave off food insecurity in the community, with a goal of supplying local children with healthy weekend snacks for 30 weeks.

Margit Novack and four neighbors in the Teal Bay neighborhood of Ocean Pines formed the group last year, dubbing themselves the “Teal Bay Mitzvah Team,” after the Hebrew word for good deeds.

Mitzvah Team member Helen Johnson said the group has already led several successful charitable campaigns. In 2021, they collected more than 1,000 pairs of shoes for their “Soles for Souls” campaign. Later that year, they amassed more than 2,000 pairs of new socks during a “Joy of Sox” drive. Donated items were then distributed to assisted living facilities, long term care facilities, Diakonia, and Worcester County GOLD.

The group also held a pet food drive for local animal shelters. Johnson said all three goals were met thanks to donations from local people. “We just want to give back to the community and those in need in some way. We feel that we’re all very fortunate, so we want to do what we can for others,” she said. “We now are focusing on food insecurity, because we knew it was something that children in our community struggle with,” Johnson continued. “There is poverty in this area and you’re always hearing about the need.” The Mitzvah Team started the latest drive on Facebook two months ago, asking for donations for the Berlin Head Start program. Johnson said Head Start supplies food during the week, but, “Come weekends, we don’t know what they have.”

“We thought it would be good to send them home with a little bag of food items, and we’re specifically collecting things suggested by a nutritionist with Head Start,” she said.

The Mitzvah Team is hoping to run the program for 30 weeks, with 30 lunch snacks per student donated and then distributed by the teachers for the children to take home. They’ve done well so far, delivering 240 bags of food to Head Start over the first eight weeks.

“They [Head Start] were very excited. It’s a federal program, so we had to go through all the proper channels to do this,” Johnson said. “And we’re very happy that this has worked out, so far.”

Johnson said many people found it convenient to order items on Amazon.com and have them shipped directly to Novack at 2 Riverside Court in Ocean Pines. “People can go online and order a case of Ramen noodles, for just $15 or $20 while having coffee in the morning,” she said.

Snacks approved by the Head Start nutritionist include single serve fruit cups and squeezers, single serve Cheerios cups, instant oatmeal packs, granola bars with no peanuts, Ramen noodles, small raisin boxes, fruit roll-ups, whole grain crackers, small popcorn bags, Bobos fruit filled mini muffins, small bags of pretzels, Bel Vita biscuits, Teddy Grahams, and dried apple chips.

Items may be dropped off or shipped directly to Margit Novack, 2 Riverside Court, Ocean Pines, Md. 21811.