Editor:

At this time, when I am jumping full-swing into a publicity campaign for the spring season of the Evanston Civic Orchestra and Chorus (ECOC), I have stopped to think back on our highly successful fall season.  

With my very public position on our ECOC Board, I have personally received a lot of recognition for the success.  I am very grateful that our community is so appreciative of what we have to offer!  None of our work would mean a thing without a supporting community who enthusiastically partakes of our fruits.  

Within a couple of weeks of moving to Evanston in 2004, I became involved in the orchestra and chorus.  The single biggest joy of my last 13 years of involvement has been working with and getting to know so many people in our community — people who come from different backgrounds, have differing levels of musical training and experience, are associated with different religions, and have different philosophies of life.  

None of that matters when we gather weekly to make music. I have counted it a blessing for many years that I am the one who gets to contact all the churches in town to invite them to participate. I am the main communicator with almost everyone in the organization.  Yes, it’s a lot of work, and it’s almost like a full-time job, but I have been personally enriched by the associations I have made.  

As I close, I want to publicly acknowledge that many people from within our board and our membership, as well as many from outside it, worked hard to make our Christmas Gala a great success on Dec. 1, 2017.

I was particularly touched with several women from the Calvary Chapel Evanston church. After declining the invitation to participate musically, they turned around and asked what they could do to help. My heart was singing.  

In addition to some volunteer help at the Gala, they donated a very nice gift basket for our silent auction.

Thanks also to the many other people and organizations who donated items for the silent auction and bake sale and who helped in so many little ways.

I highly regret forgetting to acknowledge Eppie Adams in the concert program. She was invaluable to me with her poster concept and also with graphics help as I struggled to put the program together at the very end.

Finally, we couldn’t do any of this without our orchestra and chorus directors. Nick Harker, Crystal Roskelley-Delgado and Nate Baxter are not only very talented and experienced musicians, they are also just great people. We are lucky to have them. 

I hope that many of our musical friends in the community will join us this spring. I believe you, too, will be blessed for your participation in this great community organization.

Sara Maisey

Evanston