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AUSTINTOWN -- It's late summer, and that means it's time to start planning for the Austintown Fitch High School Concert Choir golf outing fundraiser Oct. 17.
The choir completed its 53rd annual tour in April, singing for two veterans hospitals in Virginia, and the fourth annual golf outing to support their next trip will be in October.
The event will again be at Old Avalon in Warren, and funds will support the choir's trip to New York and New Jersey in April. The choir plays concerts every spring at veterans facilities around the country, and Fitch Choir Director Bill Klein said it may be the only such choir that works exclusively with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Last year's trip took them to the Richmond VA Medical Center and the Hampton VA Medical Center, near the Naval Station in Norfolk. The Hampton site is one they have visited in the past.
The year prior, they sang at 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 direction 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.
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.
Klein has said that he hopes fundraising will offset the cost enough so that the students only need to pay between $500 and $600.
Golf outing chairman Eric Thorpe said the golf outing alone has raised more than $20,000 for the students over the past three years.
In addition to the golf outing, the choir also usually hosts a craft show fundraiser.
But Thorpe said that event is not going on this year. Instead, Custom Fundraising Solutions will set up a pop-up showroom at Fitch High School and host a mattress sale Oct. 3. A flyer on the choir's Facebook page states that the mattresses available will all be national name brands with factory warranties, and each will be custom ordered at great discounts.
Klein said American Legion Post 301, Catholic War Veterans and Austintown DAV also sponsor students for the trip.
Thorpe said the Oct. 17 golf outing will begin at Old Avalon with breakfast at 8 a.m. and a shotgun start at 9 a.m. A notable change this year is that the food sponsor will be Youngstown BBQ Co. Previous outings were sponsored by Smoke Worx Village Table of Columbiana. Sugardale once again will donate the hot dogs for lunch.
The event costs slightly more than last year's. The price is $100 per golfer and $400 per team.
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 run a yellow ball game this year. Each team can pay an extra $25 for a yellow 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.
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.
Basket contributions for the outing are due by Oct. 12.