The Eastern Nazarene College Valentine’s Benefit Concert was held February 23, 2017, at the South Shore Baptist Church in Hingham Massachusetts.

The ENC A Cappella Choir joined with the ENC Chamber Singers and numerous alumni to perform a concert raising money for the Friends of the Homeless-South Shore while honoring a lifetime of service from Dorothy Newell. She was the founding director of the organization and an ENC alum.

Dr. Timothy Shetler and Dr. Kevin Smith both directed pieces, with Dr. Shetler directing a majority of the pieces while Dr. Smith accompanied.

The evening began with the ENC A Cappella Choir and alumni preforming “Open My Eyes,” by K. Lee Scott, and followed up with “Hymn of Creation” by Dan Forrest. The pastor of the South Shore Baptist Church, Reverend Cody Busby, provided a welcome and invocation.

The ENC Chamber Singers then preformed “Say Love” by John Dowland, “Three Madrigals” by Emma Lou Diemer, and several more classics and traditional songs. Their section concluded with “Calvary’s Mountain” arranged by Marie Pooler with Caelyn Doane as a soloist.

A video was then played honoring the work of Dorothy Newell with the Friends of the Homeless-South Shore.

The alumni joined the a cappella group once more for the choral tribute, “Let It Be Said of Us,” with soloist Dezirae Maffit. The alumni then sat down as the choir went on to preform “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” by Stuart Townend and “Walking in the Spirit by Mark Hayes,” with Toan Nguyen accompanying the latter on the cajón.

“We have been working on the songs for this concert all semester,” said Josh Morgan, a member of the choir “but we only got the two songs done by just the men and just the women last week, so they were hard to put together.”

“Amazing Love” by Boyo Yang was performed in the original Mandarin, with Linxiao Tang as soloist. A free will offering for the Friends of the Homeless-South Shore taken immediately after the song raised over $5,500 for the homeless shelter.

“We really appreciate what Professor Shetler and these students do out here,” said Herb Newell, the executive director of Friends of the Homeless-South Shore.

The evening concluded with the whole choir joined by the alumni for “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” by Peter Lutkin and My Times Are in Thy Hand by Joseff Roff.