Musical Event to Benefit Victims of Hurricane Sandy

Darlene Wiktor just doesn't talk the talk; she walks the walk.

"There are lots of ways people can get involved and volunteer to lend a hand," Wiktor said. "All they need to do is find what they're good at and use that talent to make a difference. That's what I'm trying to do."

Distressed at the devastation that Hurricane Sandy did to areas in New York and New Jersey that she had just visited last summer, Wiktor harnessed her passion for music to help raise funds for disaster relief.

As she did when the earthquake hit Haiti, the leader of the Praise Team at St. John Lutheran Church, a group at the church that focuses on contemporary music, organized a sing-a-long.

This effort, focusing around Christmas carols, will be at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 16 at the church, 305 Circle Ave. in Forest Park.

The adult choir also will perform. The concert is free but donations are welcomed. All proceeds will go to Disaster Relief Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.

Darlene will do more than organize it—she will also be playing the guitar, with her husband on drums and child on sax.

Wiktor's efforts are emblematic of the whole ethos of the congregation and the denomination, said Gregory Payton, a pastor at St. John.

"This indeed is a good effort," he said.

What inspired Wiktor was her trip east: she visited all five boroughs in New York City, toured Long Island, plus Atlantic City and Cape May both in New Jersey.

She loved the areas—especially the people.

Watching the newscasts and reading online, the images and words, "tore at my heart. All that wind, and rain, and fire and sand. It'll cost billions to get back to the way it was," she said.

Around Thanksgiving, she came up with the idea for the sing-a-long.

"My thoughts were of those poor folks who had no home to go to," she said.

Rehearsals have been going well and the Haiti effort raised about $1,700.

Here they will pass the plate, and as with Haiti, the funds they raise will be matched dollar for dollar by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a company that provides financial and insurance services to members of the faith.