Each year, church choirs from across Orléans gather together at the Community Pentecostal Church to celebrate the holy season in song and scripture while raising money for the east end's two local food banks.

As in the past, this year's Christmas Choirfest was kicked off by a joint performance of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing by the youth choruses.

Members of the Queenswood United Church choir perform during the Orléans Choirfest on Sunday, Dec. 2. Fred Sherwin/Photo

The youth choirs at this year's event included the Sonshine Singers, the Cross Town Youth Chorus and GleeCeptional. The Sonshine Singers then delivered an emotional performance of It's Christmas under the direction of Cathy Goddard. The chorus is made up of a talented group of able-bodied and developmentally challenged youth who share the joy of singing.

The group was followed on stage by the Cross Town Youth Chorus who sang Medieval Gloria, which served as one of the highlights of the evening. The senior members of the chorus then sang a beautiful rendition of Ave Maria.

GleeCeptional took to the stage next to sing Let it Go, followed by a whimsical performance I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas.

One of the highlights of the Choirfest is the singing of Christmas carols between each performance by members of the audience. The first ensemble carol of the evening was What Child is This. A passage from the Bible retelling the birth of Jesus is also read between each performance.

After the GleeCeptional performance, the audience joined together to sing Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, during which a freewill collection was taken up in support of the Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard and the Orléans-Cumberland Food Bank.

After the collection, the Queenswood United Church choir took the stage to sing Rock-A-Bye Bethlehem Baby and Calypso Rock.

The audience then joined together in singing Il Est N�, after which it was the Cumberland Community Singers turn to take the stage. The talented ensemble provided one of the other highlights of the evening with a beautiful rendition of Lullaby for a King and Song for a Winter's Night.

The St. Helen's Anglican Church choir followed with a performance of The Path to the Stable and So Wonderful.

The next chorus to take the stage was the host Community Pentecostal Church Choir which performed What a Glorious Night and Hope for Everyone accompanied by the combined members of the Community Pentecostal and Gloucester Community bands.

The final chorus to take the stage was the Orléans United Church choir which sang Noel: Christmas Eve, 1917 and Born in the Fullness of Light.

The highlight of the night, as it is every year, was the coming together of all the choirs to sing Peace, Peace, which traditionally brings the Choirfest to a close. A total of $2,868 was raised at this year's event which will be split evenly between the two food banks.

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)