Talk of the Town: Lots of car talk going on!

The 98 voices of the Green Valley Community Chorus are rehearsing for the group’s 34th annual Spring Concert, “It’s a Wonderful World,” to be presented Monday, March 23, at 7:30 p.m. and Tuesday, March 24, at 2:30 p.m. at Valley Presbyterian Church, 2800 S. Camino del Sol.

According to Marge Spiering, director of the chorus, the program includes four sections: Songs of Praise, Songs of Love, Songs of Soul, and Songs of Peace.

There will be musical selections from the “Music Man,” Alleluja from “Exultate Jubilate” by Mozart, “What a Wonderful World,” “Walk in Jerusalem” (an African American spiritual), “Anthem of Peace,” “Love is a Many-Splendored Thing” and much more. The Men’s Chorus will sing “This Little Light of Mine,” and the Women’s Chorus will perform the lively Irish folk song “Colcannon.”

Some of Green Valley’s favorite soloists and also some new ones will be performing. Cal Turner will play the clarinet solo for “I Love My Love.”

Tickets for this wonderful event are $8 and on sale for only from all chorus members and at these locations: Green Valley Sahuarita Chamber of Commerce, Curves, Second Look Books, and Creative Edges (Duval Mine Safeway Center). Limited tickets for $10 will be available at the door. For info, call Gary LaBarre: 867-8307

The Santa Cruz Valley Car Nuts have done it again in their continued support of helping high school kids. Each year, the Car Nuts give away a car at the up-all-night graduation party following the Sahuarita High School commencement ceremony.

Working with the S.T.O.P. program at the school, the Car Nuts select a car, donate the money to S.T.O.P. to purchase the vehicle to later give it away free to one lucky senior who stays all night at the party.

Car Nut members Joe Pierce and Lila Szedlus stopped by to tell me all about the car they will be giving away this year.

It’s a silver 2000 Dodge Intrepid. The four-door car has been well-maintained, according to Pierce, and has 80,000 on the odometer. It was bought from an estate sale and the SHS auto program is currently reconditioning it and putting on four new tires.

According to Pierce, the Santa Cruz Valley Car Nuts was formed in the early 1990s by a group of people who discovered they had a common interest in “old cars.” From about 25 founders, the club has grown to 265 members. Members include couples and singles.

“Our purpose is to help educate and bring about awareness and appreciation for the significance of the development of automobiles, and to preserve the importance of automobile history,” Pierce says. “We do those things, and at the same time take a great deal of pleasure in enjoying our hobby. Furthermore, we are especially interested in the welfare of the young people in our community.”

For the past 17 years, the Car Nuts have hosted an annual car show. All proceeds from the shows are donated to local schools and scholarships funds. Pierce says the money is generated from spectator entrance fees as well as show car entries.

In 2008, they gave out $10,000 for student scholarships at Sahuarita High School and expect to donate even more in 2009.

“We always have about 40 Sahuarita High School students helping out at the car show,” Pierce adds.

In addition to the money they donate to Sahuarita High School, they have made donations to Continental School, Sopori Elementary and Mountain View in Santa Cruz County.

The group also supports the Amado Food Bank and the Center for Battered Women and Children in Tucson.

Many members’ collector cars have been featured in Hemming’s News calendars. Hemming’s News is a national publication directed to people interested in buying, selling and antique vehicles.

Please note, for those who attend this popular series: “Keyboard Classics and Comments” with Ann-Marie Schaffer, it has been cancelled for March 2.

St. Andrew’s Children’s Clinic is celebrating its 36th year of helping children in need. The mission of the nonprofit, nondenominational organization in Nogales is to give free medical care to disabled, impoverished children from Mexico who have nowhere else to turn. On a shoestring budget, the professional and lay volunteers serve from 200 to 250 children each first Thursday of the month. Assisted by two Shriners Hospitals and a team of cleft palate surgeons from Minneapolis, they give these children a chance to live more normal lives.

Angela Ruez, 5, recently visited the orthopedics department where Dr. Francisco Valencia, the pediatric orthopedic surgeon who recommended the prosthesis for the girl, beamed as his patient stepped confidently across the floor with the aid of a small walker.

Green Valley volunteer Laural Krueger says, “Knowing that these indigent children from Mexico would have no other chance for any type of medical help for their serious afflictions is all the reason any person would need to volunteer. I’ve been volunteering in the kitchen and helping to organize the patients’ noon lunch for about 16 years and it never ceases to amaze me how dedicated and loyal the volunteers are, from the kitchen help to the unconditional time the doctors donate to the clinic. What a joy to see the successes!”

Carole Kissinger, interpreter, says, “The presence of the precious children with their loving, caring parents fills me with the desire to help them. After assisting the doctors, patients and other volunteers, I leave the clinic feeling blessed and determined to return again next month.”

Dr. Ed Spenny says he volunteers for three main reasons: “The children we see are medically needy; they have medical needs that are greater with complex histories. Some have been abandoned or given up on by their Mexican medical providers as too expensive or too difficult to help.

Catherine Clark, a 13-year volunteer from Green Valley, said, “As a nurse, I have the opportunity in a small way to make a difference in the lives of the children. I have been fortunate enough to have the training and good health that make this possible, and I believe these gifts should be passed on.

Working in the clinic is a humbling experience and very rewarding. Seeing the patient parents and children who would not be helped otherwise never fails to be an inspiration that makes me look forward to my monthly duty.”

Louise Keane, an area R.N., says, “It gives me a good feeling to help the needy children at the clinic. I like working with the other volunteers who are so friendly. We will do anything that needs to be done.”

Keane has been bringing collapsible strollers to the clinic for about eight years to give to the mothers who are struggling with carrying their little ones.

For tours and information, please call the St. Andrew’s Children’s Clinic office at 520-648-2334. Web site: www.standrewsclinic.org

Thanks to volunteer Gloria Thiele for this story.

rford@gvnews.com | 547-9740