Seven contestants will sing their hearts out April 24 at the annual Voices of Callaway County competition, but they're not in it for the fame.
They're in it for the money.
"The person who raises the most money wins," said Suzanne Guerrant, event organizer and Callaway County Program director.
The event will raise funds to support Heart of Missouri CASA Callaway branch. CASA volunteers advocate for abused and neglected children in the 13th Judicial District, which includes Callaway and Boone counties.
"We have 30 trained advocates in Callaway County right now," Guerrant said. "Last year, we worked with 48 kids (in Callaway County)."
The event tends to feature different singers every year. The 2017 competition will feature seven entries: Pam Crawford and Paige Roesner; One Man Band (Chris Loeffler and Brian Nash); Varlet Hearts (Gary and Suze Durk); Murray and Barbara Buschert; Scottie Watson; the Koelling Family; and Rhonda Fletcher. Last year's winner was Kendra Windsor, who will be at the 2017 event.
"Varlet Hearts - they have blown it out of the water," Guerrant said of the fund raising thus far. "They've brought in several $500 donors."
So far, $6,000 has been raised, and Guerrant said their goal is to raise $10,000.
People can donate via the website, heartofmissouriCASA.org.
The competition is at 6 p.m. April 24 at the new Southside Baptist Church, where Guerrant is not only a member but also a singer.
"I sing with the ladies group at church," she said.
This is the third Voices competition.
"The Voice was so popular at the time (we started), and CASA is called 'voices for children,'" Guerrant said of the event's origin. "Hopefully, more people will become aware of CASA."
Correction: Due to a copy editor's error, some of the names of The Voices' 2017 competitors were incorrect in the original version of this article. The text above has since been corrected.