Many people think of community service as volunteering to pick up trash or to help out at school; not many think of singing as community service.

But that’s just what this new choir of Kansas City-area students does.

SunRaise, created by Julie Danielson at MTKC (Musical Theatre Kansas City), is a community service choir created to offer teens an opportunity for a different sort of service by reaching out and affecting the community in a positive way.

The name SunRaise came from MTKC’s motto “Be the sun” and from an idea about sun rays. The kids in the group decided to change the spelling and combine the two because “they could raise people’s spirits with our music,” Danielson said.

Megan Duffield, sophomore, has been participating in SunRaise since it first started in the fall of 2014. She has been involved with MTKC since 2009 and has done 11 shows through then.

“My favorite part of SunRaise is being with people I don’t see often and spreading light through the community,” Duffield said.

SunRaise has performed at nursing homes, children’s shelters, Christmas events for charity, 9/11 performances for veterans and survivors, and at the UMKC Pride Breakfast.

“The UMKC Pride Breakfast was definitely my favorite event to direct at because it was for a great cause and people were genuinely moved by our performance,” Danielson said.

Duffield’s favorite event she has performed at is a fund-raiser that SunRaise put on, where the kids sang the entire day long to raise money.

SunRaise gained some publicity during the Plaza lighting ceremony when the singers were shown on national TV in their “Be the sun” shirts while singing in the pouring rain.

“It was miserable, but we ended up as the top story on the ‘Today Show’ website the next morning,” Danielson said.

Rehearsals are usually every Sunday night and are at the Brookdale retirement home, where sometimes residents wander in and listen to them perform.

“During rehearsals we learn new music that is usually pop songs and are usually based on the events we are about to perform at,” Duffield said. This is different from a school choir, where students usually just sing classical pieces for their main season.

SunRaise has grown tremendously from when it first started and now has over 50 singers in it.

“My hope for SunRaise is that we can do bigger outreach events that can truly initiate change in the community,” Danielson said.