Thorsby High School held its Holiday Program on Dec. 7 with students from kindergarten to sixth grade that participated.

The program was held in the Thorsby auditorium and donations were being accepted at the door to benefit Chilton County DHR.

Roughly $400 was raised and will go toward helping students that are in foster care during Christmas.

“This is absolutely wonderful, because we have so many children in our care,” said Hanna Calloway with DHR. “Anytime the community gets together to make their Christmas special, it just touches our hearts. Every year we have different children that are in care, and it’s a whole new light that you see on all these kids’ faces.”

Christina Cochran is in her first year as an elementary school counselor at Thorsby. She had done a similar program during the holidays while at Verbena, but never for donations.

“We tried to incorporate a community outreach portion [to the program],” Cochran said.

One by one, the various grades came on stage and performed its musical renditions.

Kindergarten got things started by singing “Mittens and Gloves”, followed by first grade which sang “I Want to be an Elf,” second grade sang “A Hawaiian Christmas,” third grade sang “We Will Jingle” while shaking bells, and the fourth through sixth grade choir sang “Peaceful” to close the show.

According to Cochran, the fourth through sixth grade choir just started singing this semester.

“That was a big deal for them, because they came out on Friday afternoons to practice and they put in a lot of time,” Cochran said.

Despite the choir being new to Thorsby, the interest from students and the community has been there.

“I was unexpected to have 50 kids that wanted to do it, but am very fortunate for that,” Cochran said.

Cochran has a bachelor’s degree in music education and has seen the influence that music has on people, especially during the holiday season.

“I’ve always put the two [music and holidays] together,” Cochran said. “It helps with the school climate, because everybody is happier and contributing. It makes a big difference.”