Welcome to Coulee Region Giving Hearts Choir
About Us
I LOVE HEARING OLD SONGS I USED TO LOVE. THEY ARE LIKE MEMORIES ONE CAN ALWAYS GO BACK TO....
Engage Socially...Have Fun Together...Contribute to our Community. We are a non-profit group for those in the early to mid stages of Memory Loss along with their Care Givers to come together & share a love of music...SING IN A CHOIR!
SING SONGS FROM DAYS GONE BY...
The 1940's, 50's, 60's, & 70's; popular, folk, country, hymns, spirituals, patriotic, & holiday songs
The Giving Hearts Choir experience
- No singing experience required
- Music Director understands singers' potential
- Comfortable rehearsal space with easy access
- Personalized music books
- Weekly rehearsals
- Public Performances
- Social time for singers and volunteers
Our Accomplishments:
Established September 1, 2017 the Coulee Region Giving Hearts Choir has performed
- 3-4 Concerts a year at Gundersen Health
- At Rotary Lights
- Holiday Fair
- National Anthem at a LaCrosse Loggers game
- Mini Concert at Loggers Game
- Bethany Heights
- Retirement events
- Viroqua Senior Citizens Club
- Family Reunions
- A wedding
- Area Churches
- Joining in concert with Apple Annie’s
- Stepping Out In Pink
- There’s More To Me Than A-L-Z
- Alzheimer’s Walk
Testimonials
Cindy: “It’s been awesome for my husband, Mike. It has cheered him up and it something he looks forward to. There is laughter and teasing and jokes, as well as good music.”
Sue: "There is such a love and support that comes from all of these people. They joke about the disease and always end with 'well someday we won’t remember these Fridays.' The joy that they have when they sing is an amazing site to see. "
Roger: "It's the best part of the week".
Duane, as a caregiver: "It's a Holiday, a vacation, within the week”.
Meet
Music Director
Jill (Lawson) Ahrens, Luther College grad and UW-L alum has been a choral director for over 26 years in the Coulee Region. She has witnessed first hand the wonderful power of songs within her dad's dementia battles. "Even in his last days, he mouthed the words as my sons and I sang to him." Now her mission is to inspire and celebrate what persons with memory loss can still do ~
SING IN A CHOIR!
Jill currently teaches K-5 Music at Ridgeway Community School, teaches Art and Music at Hylandale Church School, continues as a WSMA Adjudicator, Co-Directs area Musicals, and is the WI SDA Camp Meeting Choir, Orchestra, and Brass Ensemble Director.
She and her husband are Lay Pastors at their church in Sparta.
Treasurer
Kay Bjorge shares her talents with our Choir as our very accurate and experienced Treasurer...a true caregiver!
Secretary
Kam-Lin Roswall recently lost her mother to Alzheimer's and Dementia. Music and performance was a constant in her mother’s life and was just one way to continue to communicate with her mother through her journey. Kam-Lin has been a part of the Coulee Region community for quite some time. She is an educator and theatre director in the area so she understands the importance of music performance in life. She is currently chair for the WHSFA Speech and Theatre Association. She lives in La Crosse with her husband, two children and rescue dog, Kona.
Thank you
Gundersen Health: Healing Arts
Gundersen Health's healing arts program is dedicated to helping patients get better faster through music, crafts and other artistic endeavors.
The Giving Voice Initiative
Giving Voice Initiative inspires and equips choruses that bring joy, well-being, purpose, and community understanding to people with Alzheimer’s and their care partners.
Stand In The Light Memory Choir
People in the early to mid stages of memory loss & their care partners come together to share their love of music in the Eau Claire area.
Donors
This organization is grateful for your financial support, in any amount, to assist our group in providing opportunities for still growing, doing, and living while creating new memories as others fade....
Members through the years...
Rob & Jill Ahrens, Bud Becker, Duane & Evelyn Bennett, Roger Bjorge, Sue Bluske, Jerome Boge, Russ & Sandy Brieske, Joy Buchman, Mark Cleghorn, Jim Darnell, Hazel Desmond, Tom & Mary Jones, Ruth Kapanke, Bud Kark, Ed Keuper, Jo LaFleur, Dave Lawson Sr., Judy Loomis, Mike & Cindy Renken, Barbara Martin-Stanley, Dean Uhls, Kevin Van Buskirk, John Withers
Founders
Jill Ahrens
Diana Cataldi
Roger & Kay Bjorge
Jerome Boge
Russell & Sandy Brieske
Mark Cleghorn
David Lawson Sr.
John Withers
Affiliate of Giving Voice Initiative
Coulee Region Giving Hearts Choir is an affiliate member of the Giving Voice Initiative (GVI). GVI created a toolkit modeled after the Giving Voice Chorus which started in collaboration with MacPhail Center for Music in 2014.
The Arts impact on those with Memory Loss
"The creative arts can reach even the most cognitively impaired people because they depend upon something other than the intellect. Creativity comes from somewhere beyond the intellect; it flows from an intuitive non-rational place in the body and mind, so we can tap into the creativity of everyone, no matter how much their logic or sequential memory has been disturbed." ~ Jill Hayes
