LUDLOW, Vt. – The festive Christmas-Time Singo Night held at the United Church of Ludlow on Sunday, Nov. 24, raised $425 to purchase disaster kits for the community.
The church’s Fellowship Hall was transformed into a festive sing-a-long, led by popular Singo host Jane McGarry, with live holiday and rock music provided Ludlow musician Sammy Blanchette.
Singo is a musical variation of Bingo that uses songs instead of numbers to fill playing cards. It’s fun for all ages, everybody sings along, and winners get prizes in each of three rounds. McGarry runs Singo games at Off the Rails, Black Line Tavern (Magic Mountain), and other New England venues. Blanchette, a.k.a. Sammy B, performed the songs live on his guitar at this special event, mixing in some Christmas songs to add a holiday twist to a fun event that usually offers recorded music.
Learn more about Singo at www.playsingo.com. Sammy Blanchette is online at www.sammyblanchette.net.
The United Church has become a community gathering place in Ludlow, hosting concerts, events, dinners, game nights, and meetings of local nonprofit organizations. The first live Singo event was held in May 2024, to raise funds for the restoration of the church’s historical bell. It was so successful that the church decided to hold several per year, with all proceeds going to identified charities.
The United Church has recently taken on the project of becoming a disaster hub for Ludlow, to create a vital support system in the event of future events such as the July 2023 flood. The church will be purchasing and storing disaster relief materials, including cleanup tools, masks, hygiene and first aid kits, food, sump pumps, and drinking water. Learn more about the United Church of Christ’s Disaster Response Resources at www.ucc.org/disaster_index/disaster_resources.
Anyone wishing to donate to the disaster kits project is invited to mail a check made out to United Church of Ludlow with the memo “disaster relief” to Bill Kneebone, receiver of offerings, at P.O. Box 12, Ludlow, VT 05149.