Songs of the season raise thousands for food bank

By Lethbridge Herald on December 16, 2025.

Joanne Collier, music director of Vox Musica directs the audience to sing along with multiple choirs on the stage during the Lethbridge Carol Festival Friday at the Southminster United Church.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald

Vox Musica hosted the first Carol Festival in Lethbridge after several years residents went without one, with proceeds from ticket sales going to the Lethbridge Food Bank. 

More than two hundred singers took turns on the stage of the Southminster United Church Friday night to sign Christmas carols to an almost full church. A few songs were interpreted by the Aeris Brass Quintet, while Vox Musica director Joanne Collier directed the audience to sing along. 

“The Lethbridge Carol Festival raised just over $6,000 for the Lethbridge Food Bank. So, we want to thank all the choirs and generous community folks for supporting this event,” said Collier Monday.

In an interview on Friday just hours before the concert, Collier said they would be joined by nine choirs. The Chinook High School Choir, Father Leonard Van Tighem Lower Elementary Choir, It’s About Music Choir, McKillop Choir, St. Augustine’s Senior Choir, Ventus Women’s Choir, Southminster Chancel Choir, Lethbridge Christian Women’s Choir, and the Five Singing Guys. 

“We had chance to bring a variety of choirs from the community together, and we decided to do this as a fundraiser for the Lethbridge Food Bank,” said Collier. “Southminster United Church generously sponsored this event, which allows the concert to donate even more to the Lethbridge Food Bank.” 

Collier shared that Vox Musica hosts community events in the fall with community choirs and a guest conductor, but this time they wanted to do something different. And since Lethbridge have not had a Carol Festival in years, they decided to host one. 

“I think the last Carol Festival was 10 years ago, so when we started asking choirs to join us nobody even thought twice,” said Collier. 

She said the concert would start with a Carol singalong with everybody in the audience, accompanied by the organ and the brass quintet, and then every choir will sing two pieces.

“There will be three more singalong carols and at the end all choirs will join the quintet to sing the final carol with the audience,” said Collier. 

When talking about the decision to make the event a fundraising for the Lethbridge Food Bank, Collier said they decided to donate ticket price proceeds instead of on-hand food donations for a reason. 

“We know that each dollar can be stretched out more than food items when donated to the Lethbridge Food Bank, and since our overhead for this event was a lot less than usual, we would be able to make a significant contribution,” said Collier.