PARIS – Tere Porter, a local eye doctor, knows how to get into the Christmas spirit.

He sings Christmas songs with his friends and neighbors.

Porter has been part of the all-volunteer Christmas for Teens community chorus since it was formed in 2000.

“It helps get me in the Christmas spirit, and I know exactly where the money goes,” he said.

Last year the sold-out concert raised more than $3,000 to bring Christmas cheer to more than 140 low-income and homeless teens in the Oxford Hills.

This year the concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 3 at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School. It will be led by musical producer Cynthia Wescott, a veteran of community chorus and musical events.

The community chorus will be joined by Drama Club students from the high school and other individuals and groups of performers. The concert uses narrators, props and lighting to lend variety to the event.

Another regular performer in the chorus is Jeannette Baldridge of West Paris.

“I enjoy doing this concert because the teens benefit directly from it. It provides what they needs and want. Anything that helps teens makes me happy,” she said.

Other participants include high school students who want to help their friends, and employees of SAD 17.

To qualify for help under the Christmas for Teens program, the teens’ family must meet income guidelines and the teen must be 13 to 18 years old and attending school full-time at either OHCHS or Oxford Hills Middle School. The committee spends about $45 a teen, mostly on practical items.

Wescott works with the Christmas for Teens Committee.

Both Christmas for Teens and Christmas for Kids, for younger children, are under the umbrella of Rightstart, begun in 1979, which also sponsors book swaps, a tutoring program and Jackets for Kids.

Christmas for Kids, the program which buys presents for younger children, is supported by the annual Jump in the Lake for Kids’ Sake event and other fund-raisers. There had been plans for the Hills Alive Chorale and Hillsmen Barbershop Chorus to put on a separate concert to benefit Christmas for Kids, but the concert plans were recently canceled for lack of interest.

More information on the Christmas for Teens concert may be obtained by calling the high school music department at 743-8914, extension 1015, or Jean Delamater, Christmas for Teens, at 539-4587.