CHRISTMAS STORY CONCERT DEC. 14 WILL BENEFIT LOCAL CANCER PATIENTS

Time-honored Christmas classics and holiday songs highlight the second annual "A Christmas Story," next weekend.

The benefit concert, sponsored by the Southeast Missouri Hospital Foundation, will be held at 3 p.m. Dec. 14 at Grace United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau.

Honorary chairman for the concert is Cape Girardeau County Collector Harold Kuehle. Concert proceeds will be used to assist cancer patients being treated at Southeast Missouri Hospital's Regional Cancer Center who are unable to meet their financial demands.

Tickets are $5 each and may be purchased by calling the foundation office at 651-5510 or at the door.

Refreshments will also be served.

Special concert "Caring Partner" sponsorships are also available in amounts ranging from $100 to $1000. In its first year, "A Christmas Story" raised more than $14,000 for patient care services.

Cape Girardeau music educator and well-known performer Mike Dumey will serve as music arranger and choreographer for the benefit, which will feature both religious and secular music.

Dumey, a graduate of Jackson High School and Southeast Missouri State University, is best known for his work directing and producing shows with "Spotlight Tonight," a vocal ensemble formed in 1986. Dumey is a music teacher at L.J. Schultz School and is also involved with the choir at Grace United Methodist Church.

Also performing are Tim DePriest, Cheryl Fortner, Robyn Hosp, Cynthia Wyatt and Julie Walker.

Concert highlights include family favorites such as "Silver Bells," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "White Christmas," "Sleigh Ride," "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year." Other Christmas classics such as "The First Noel," "Star of Bethlehem" and "I Wonder as I Wander" will be performed.

Fortner and DePriest will combine talents to present a baby grand duet of "O Holy Night."

"Grace Notes," the bell choir of Grace United Methodist Church, will perform the concert prelude.

Jackson resident David Murphy will be master of ceremonies for the program. Promotional sponsor is KGMO radio.

Kuehle noted that cancer directly affects one out of three Americans.

"I am one of those individuals," he said. "As a non-Hodgkin lymphoma patient, now in remission, I had the opportunity to become acquainted with many patients and their families. In talking about our treatment experiences, it became evident that we all shared, in varying degrees, the financial, emotional, physical and spiritual challenges that come with cancer.

"However, I was absolutely amazed to observe how patients and family members rose -- with grace, with positive attitudes -- to meet these challenges," he said. "The human spirit is a beautiful thing."

Each year, more than 550 patients receive services at the Regional Cancer Center. Since it was implemented in 1967, the program has developed to include inpatient and outpatient services during diagnosis, treatment and recovery. It also offers continuing support for cancer patients and their families.