Submitted photo The Austintown Fitch High School Show Choir stands outside the VA hospital in Queens, New York, in April. The choir has been performing for veterans since 1972. This year’s trip took them to hospitals in New York and New Jersey, and it performed with the Manhattan Choir at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, under the conduction of Grammy Award-winning composer and songwriter Eric Whitacre. The choir will perform at two veterans hospitals in Virginia next year.

AUSTINTOWN — The Austintown Fitch High School Concert Choir just completed its 52nd annual tour in April, singing for two veterans hospitals and at Lincoln Center.

Now it’s time to start planning and fundraising to support next year’s trip.

That means it’s time for the third Concert Choir Classic golf outing.

“This year, we’re playing Old Avalon in Warren, and we haven’t played there before,” said Fitch Choir Director Bill Klein. “We’re trying to get more teams this year, now that it’s more of an established outing, and it feels like we know what we’re doing this time around.”

The choir plays concerts every spring for veterans facilities around the country, and Klein said it may be the only such choir that works exclusively with the Department of Veterans Affairs. April’s trip took them to veterans hospitals in Queens, New York and Lyons, New Jersey, before finishing with a patriotic show at New York City’s Lincoln Center, where they were invited to sing with the Manhattan Choir under the conduction of Grammy Award-winning composer and songwriter Eric Whitacre.

The choir has been performing for veterans across the country since 1972. The only year they missed was 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and Klein said they were the first group in 2021 to get back on the road.

Next year, Klein said, they will again play at least two different hospitals, both in Virginia. They never played the Richmond VA Medical Center, and Klein said they are looking forward to it.

They will return to a familiar site, though, when they play the Hampton VA Medical Center, near the Naval Station in Norfolk.

“We’ll do at least one show in Richmond, and in Norfolk we usually do one big show outside, and then go to several different units,” Klein said.

He said they will perform for patients in the spinal injury unit, in a nursing home unit, a hospice unit and a substance abuse recovery unit.

“For Norfolk, we do what we call our ‘Vet Set,’ that’s very patriotic, and we’ll do a medley of old time rock and roll, some sing and dance numbers that the vets really like,” Klein said.

Next year’s trip will be April 16 to 19.

There are 50 members in the show choir and Klein said the trip routinely sees 100% attendance among the students. Students pay for it out of their own pockets and the cost per student is about $1,100, which covers travel, lodging and meals for four days.

“I like for them to pay between $500 and $600, so if we can knock off between $400 to $500 or so, I like to help them out with that as much as we can,” Klein said.

“It’s all through fundraising to bring the cost down,” he said. “The craft show will be on Oct. 4, a week before the golf outing. Those are huge fundraisers and they bring in a ton of money for the kids.”

Klein said American Legion Post 301, Catholic War Veterans and Austintown DAV also sponsor kids for the trip.

Golf outing chairman Eric Thorpe said the golf outing alone has raised more than $12,000 for the students over two years. He said he hopes to make this year’s event — and the students’ trip — the biggest and best so far.

“It’s a really special year because they’re not only going to the largest veterans facility on the east coast, but it’s also the 250th anniversary celebration of the United States,” Thorpe said.

The Oct. 11 golf outing will begin at Old Avalon with breakfast at 8 a.m. and a shotgun start at 9 a.m. For the second year, the tournament is sponsored by Smoke Worx Village Table of Columbiana, which will provide a BBQ dinner. Sugardale donated the hot dogs for lunch. Rita’s Italian Ice of Austintown also will send a truck to cater to the event.

The event costs a little less than last year’s, too. The price is $80 per golfer.

Much like last year’s event, there will be a 50 / 50 raffle and traditional proximity contests such as closest to the pin, longest drive, longest putt and others.

Thorpe said they will continue the pink ball game this year. Each team can pay an extra $25 for a pink golf ball, and then rotate it among each member of the team from one hole to the next. The teams that bring the ball back at the end of 18 holes are entered into a raffle.

But they also will add a new game with a chance for a special prize, which Thorpe said he wants to keep secret for now.

“It’s going to be a fun surprise,” he said.

Thorpe said all prizes will be split evenly between the winning golfer and the school.

Thorpe said anyone interested in sponsorship or donations can contact him at 330-507-7479. Entry fees and donations for the outing may be made by checks payable to the FHS Choral Parents Club.

He said they will be distributing flyers with QR codes that will lead users to the website’s registry page, where they also can sign up to be donors or sponsors.