VCU’s Black Awakening choir to tour East Coast

Members of VCU’s Black Awakening choir seek to take their ministry beyond VCU, beyond Richmond and even beyond Virginia.

To do this, they entered the Baptist Student Union National Choir Competition in Atlanta and won first place. This spring, choir director, Kevin Hall, plans for his choir to tour the northern East Coast beginning Thursday, March 9 through Monday, March 13.

“I suggested it last year,” Hall said. “I wanted to break the monotony of only doing competitions so it doesn’t get old and stale.”

Krystal Mise, choir president, said the first stop will be at Bowie State University in Bowie, Md. From there, she said stops will be made at other universities and churches in Pennsylvania and New York.

Touring, Hall said, serves as a way to recruit people to join the choir.

For information on how to make donations to the Black Awakening choir, e-mail Eboni Gross at EboniGross@blackawakening.com.

“When we go out to sing, we are unofficially recruiting people to the school,” Hall said. “After they hear the choir sing, they want to come to VCU.”

Part of the problem in achieving a final tour schedule is the budget. Eboni Gross, business manager for the choir, said it costs about $130 per member and $4,000 for busing. She said there are about 85 members in the choir.

Gross said the choir fundraised twice in the fall semester. The first one, she said, was a car wash in September that raised $500. In the second fudnraiser they sold Krispy Kr