CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — Although its church’s services are canceled, a Chesapeake choir still wanted to help people through music.

Members of the great Bridge Presbyterian Church sang their way through the neighborhood behind their sanctuary.

Billye Brown Youmans, who is the director of music for the church, says they wanted to spread positivity to help those struggling with the coronavirus outbreak.

“I got a call from someone who’s not even in the choir who was really struggling and said wouldn’t it be great if the choir would go out in the neighborhood and just sing some hymns? I thought what a great idea. We sing! That’s what we do. We sign to help people. I sent out the email and tons of people showed up,” she said.

The choir met last week and Sunday to continue to give their gift to the world.

“By singing, we are not only sharing Christ’s love with with what you do, but it was an organic thing that helped us feel better. We thought this has got to be a thing that will lift other people’s spirits as well,” she said.

And neighbors say it did.

Lee Curling, who has lived in the neighborhood for 50 years, says it is what they need.

“I grew up in the Presbyterian church around the corner. With not being able to go to the church right now with the situation we’re in, for Billye to bring out the choir and for them to walk the streets, it’s just wonderful for them to give back to the community,” he said.

The group, which lined the streets, practiced social distancing by staying at least six feet apart.

Brown Youmans says the singing also helped the choir because they are like a family.

“We lift up one another when we’re low. We rejoice with one another when things are wonderful. We know that by singing, we are coming together. We could see one another, we couldn’t touch one another, but we could see each other and see that each person in the group was okay,” she said.

Brown Youmans hopes they will be able to continue signing as long as possible at outside other communities to continue to spread joy.

“People have lost jobs. They have lost loved ones. People are sick. We don’t know where to go. We don’t know how to deal with the enormity of it but we know one thing, we can do things that make people smile. So, we made people smile,” she said.

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