NORTHAMPTON — When Brit Albritton learned that St. John’s Episcopal Church in Northampton would not be hosting a Messiah sing this year, he decided that was a void that needed to be filled.

On short notice, Albritton, board president of the Illuminati Vocal Arts Ensemble, and musical colleagues Arianne Abela and Noah Horn organized one of the season’s time-honored traditions at Grace Episcopal Church in Amherst.

The Dec. 15 event, at which audience members form a chorus in support of four solo singers with a chamber orchestra, will benefit the Gazette’s Sidney F. Smith Toy Fund. It starts at 7 p.m.

“It’s a nice chance to support you guys,” Albritton said. “It’s a great charity.”

In an email, Abela noted that the very first performance of Handel’s Messiah in 1742 was a fundraiser for an orphanage in Dublin, Ireland.

“It seemed absolutely natural to continue this tradition of giving to children, hundreds of years later, especially during the holiday season,” she said.

Messiah sings are a Christmas tradition dating back to the 19th century in the U.S. and Britain.

Benjamin Durfee, administrative assistant at St. John’s Episcopal, said Albritton had reached out to the church and that it was good to know that there would be a Messiah sing in the area after St. John’s was unable to organize its own event, a benefit in recent years for Manna Community Kitchen.

“We’re taking a year break,” he said. “We hope to get back to it next year.”

Abela, director of the choral program at Amherst College, will conduct the Messiah sing along with Horn, her husband and the musical director at Grace Episcopal, who is also conductor of the Boston Cantata Singers.

“They’re a musical power couple,” Albritton said.

Horn will also sing the tenor solo and play trumpet, and Abela, who is on maternity leave from her job until the end of the year, said their three children “will certainly make an appearance!”

“So many people enjoy Messiah sings,” Abela said. “These community sings are important because it reminds us that singing is for everyone.”

The other soloists are Paige Graham, soprano; Justina Golden, alto; and John Thomas, bass.

“We are grateful for the generosity of many area musicians who, like us, are very fond of this tradition,” Albritton said.

Albritton and Abela have a musical history together, beginning in 2005 when Abela, then a first-year student at Smith College, started singing with the Hodie benefit concerts organized by Albritton and Deanna Joseph.

“Deanna asked me to join and opened my world to so much music I had never heard, including Messiah,” Abela said.

The Hodie concerts — it means “this day” in Latin and is pronounced “ho-dee-yay” — benefited the Toy Fund and were held yearly until 2007. When Abela returned to the area to take the Amherst College position in 2018, she and Albritton revived them for a couple of years.

“Hodie helped me to realize that music can do more for our community than just provide beauty — it can help change people’s lives through fundraising and supporting charities and various causes,” Abela said. “Brit taught me this nearly 20 years ago, and it is truly amazing to find myself back here doing this work again.”

Named after a former business manager at the Gazette, the Toy Fund began in 1933 to help families in need during the Depression. Today, the fund distributes vouchers worth $50 to qualifying families for each child from age 1 to 14.

To be eligible for the Toy Fund, families must live in any Hampshire County community except Ware, or in the southern Franklin County towns of Deerfield, Sunderland, Whately, Shutesbury and Leverett, and in Holyoke in Hampden County.

The following stores are participating this year: A2Z Science and Learning Store, 57 King St., Northampton; Blue Marble/Little Blue, 150 Main St., Level 1, Northampton; High Five Books, 141 N. Main St., Florence; The Toy Box, 201 N. Pleasant St., Amherst; Comics N’ More, 64 Cottage St., Easthampton; Once Upon A Child, 1458 Riverdale St., West Springfield; Plato’s Closet, 1472 Riverdale St., West Springfield; Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters, 227 Russell St., Hadley; Odyssey Bookshop, 9 College St., Village Commons, South Hadley; The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 125 W. Bay Road, Amherst; World Eye Bookshop, 134 Main St., Greenfield; Holyoke Sporting Goods Co., and 1584 Dwight St. No. 1, Holyoke.