CityView Magazine

From left to right, the Voices of the Heart singers are, Hannah Godbold, Katelyn Godbold, Mandi Hawley, Hannah Pritchard and Rachel Crenshaw Christmas Spirit For 13 years "The Heart of Christmas Show" has showcased local talent and given back to the community BY BHAIRAVI BHATT Christmas since Labor Day weekend. Their talents are to be a major part of Fayetteville's local Broadway-style musical production, "The Heart of Christmas Show." Produced, choreographed and directed by Laura Stevens, T hough it's easy to get excited about the holiday season now with decorations ap- pearing and a chill in the air, the Voices of the Heart girls have been singing about the show's main goal is simply to use the talents of local youths to help other children in our area. "The Heart of the Christmas Show" began 13 years ago, when Laura's singing group won a competition at a gospel music festival in Myrtle Beach. After the win, Laura figured that with her talents and a desire to help the community, she could give back by creat- ing a musical where local talents would be showcased in a Broadway-style production. Her dream became a reality with the creation of "The Heart of Christmas Show." Hannah Pritchard, who is 12 years old, is the youngest member of the Voices of the Heart. She proudly says she has been part of the show since she was 7 years old. Moreover, she says, "All of us work towards community service, and all together the result is great." She understands that their hard work and dedication is helping raise money for local public and private schools, organizations and more. Voices of the Heart is a special group of talented singers whose vocals are a major point of attention in the show itself. Hannah, along with local middle school and high school students Katelyn God- bold, Hannah Godbold, Mandi Hawley and Rachel Crenshaw have been rehearsing for several months to make sure that the show is a hit again this year. Each member has various reasons for why they enjoy being part of the show, but they all agree that they are honored to have a chance to help people in need, especially young children. In addition to helping the community, the other aim of the show is to bring families together to enjoy the witty, tear-jerk- ing and heartwarming acts. An emotional Laura Stevens de- scribed her gratitude of having Fayetteville's solid community support by saying, "This is Fayetteville's own show, which they support 100 percent. This is homegrown and they are proud of it." She said she is grateful for the enormous local support — more than 300 area sponsors support the show each year — which assures that the show sells out every year. In fact, Laura suggests people buy tickets early. In addition to regular weekend shows, there are four local school shows, a shortened version of the weekend shows, which also raise money for pri- CityViewNC.com | 27

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