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AAA Rent-A-Space News Room

Post # 5

Title of News Post: Messenger-Inquirer Article: 'For the Children' concert crowd biggest in years

Posted by: Stephen Williams

Posted on: 2009-12-01

Content:

Bill and Jo Barron participated in a Christmas benefit concert as reported in the Messenger-Inquirer article below:

'For the Children' concert crowd biggest in years

Backstage photo at Alma and Friends For the Children Christmas concert 2009. Photo by Gary Emord-Netzley, M-I
Alma Randolph Patton, right, waits in the wings with 6- to 9-year-old dancers from Musick Studios on Sunday just before the start of the “Alma and Friends ... For the Children” Christmas concert at the RiverPark Center. Randolph Patton did not perform because of a frozen temporomandibular joint in her jaw. Photo by Gary Emord-Netzley, M-I

By Keith Lawrence
Published: Monday, November 23, 2009 12:01 AM CST

Alma Randolph Patton believes in miracles.

A frozen temporomandibular joint in her jaw has restricted her speech and left the gospel singer with a contemporary flair unable to sing since February.

And that was especially difficult Sunday when more than 950 people crowded into the lower level of the RiverPark Center for Patton's 16th annual "Alma and Friends ... For the Children" concert to raise money to buy back-to-school clothes for 1,000 children next summer.

It was the first time since the concerts began in 1994 that Patton had to rely entirely on her friends to perform.

But they turned out in force -- between 200 and 250 performers from Musick Studios, the Whitesville Preschool Choir, Turning Point Mime Ministry, UNITY Gospel Choir, the Deer Park and Meadow Lands Collaborative Choir, Lydia Manley, Foust Singers, the Sutton Elementary Chorus and Bill and Jo Barron.

"I'm waiting for approval for the surgery," Patton said, before going on stage to welcome the largest crowd the concert has seen since its first year.

"I'm confident I'll be able to sing again," she said. "But this is torture, not getting to sing today."

Since she couldn't perform, Patton was missing the chance to wear several glitzy gowns during the show -- a trademark of the event.

"Ticket sales have been astronomical this year," she said. "We sold 800 in advance. I believe the inaugural concert sold between 800 and 900. But ticket sales have been lower since then."

More than 150 additional tickets were sold at the door in the minutes before the show.

"Oh, what a mighty God we serve," Patton told the crowd before the show. "I solicit your prayers because I still believe in miracles. I don't know when, but I will sing again."

She's already had one miracle.

In 2002, Patton had already planned the show, thinking she would be unable to sing.

She had been sidelined for nearly two years by complications from fractured discs in her neck. And tests showed her right vocal cord was damaged.

She had canceled her performance at the 10th annual "Alma and Friends ... For the Children Christmas Concert" and therapy had already been scheduled in Louisville to teach her to sing again.

But during a Nov. 3 morning service at the Church of God of Prophecy in Hartford that year, Patton said: "My throat opened up. I could breathe again. I could sing. I've always believed in miracles, but I had never experienced one."

The next day she sang in church for the first time in months, a medley of "I Love You, Lord/He Touched Me/Bless His Name."

She was only able to sing one song at her Christmas concert that year, but she still managed to perform.

Patton grew up poor in Ohio County. And the memories of going to school in hand-me-down clothing led her to create the Alma Randolph Charitable Foundation in 1993.

Mike Lee, president of the foundation, told the crowd that the organization has bought school clothes for more than 10,000 students in the past 15 years.

"We served 1,000 children in July," he said, "and our goal is to clothe another 1,000 next summer. I cannot describe the faces of those children when they get their clothes."

Sunday was the foundation's first Christmas concert in two years. In 2008, Patton performed a patriotic salute to veterans instead.

Donations to the foundation can be sent to The Alma Randolph Charitable Foundation Inc., C/O Schwartz CPA Group, 1735 Frederica St., Owensboro, KY 42301.

(Special emphasis added. This article re-printed by permission of, and with special thanks to, the Messenger-Inquirer. Original article written by Keith Lawrence, (270) 691-7301, klawrence@messenger-inquirer.com)

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Post # 1

Title of News Post: Welcome to the new AAA Rent-A-Space!

Posted by: Stephen Williams

Posted on: 2009-11-14