For those of you that have a mom, you know she tends to be right more often than you are. She says things like clean your room and asks you if you ate today, and when your 9-to-5s become 9-to-midnights she fights you to give yourself some of what we call "self-care." You roll your eyes most of the time, but moments, if not seconds later you are telling yourself "yeah, Mom is probably right." When you complain about life, or work, she tells you things like "Hash-tag Compassion" and "Find joy," or my personal favorite, "Everyone has a story -- listen."

There is a group in Tacoma that has had a passion for finding people's stories and sharing them with the world. By the compassion of Erin Gunip, Tacoma Refugee Choir started in April of last year as a pilot project, and in January 2017 was able to establish themselves as a nonprofit. TRC is a choir that simply brings people together that have a passion for music. "Though it may look like it, our group is not motivated by politics; our group is motivated by connecting with the community," said Erin. They have had six performances in the past year including their presentation/performance to the Tacoma City Council Oct. 3, and their performance for the WE Day organization Oct. 5.

Last Tuesday, the Tacoma Refugee Choir released their first single, "Everyone Has a Song." The song alone is an empowering statement about kindness and love, but what's even more empowering is the local artists that lent their talents to the single.  The all-star line-up includes Grammy winner Wanz (Macklemore's "Thrift Shop"), Grammy nominee QDot, The Voice's Vicci Martinez, Stephanie Anne Johnson, Nalini Krishnan, Jason Kertson, Emily Randolph, Caleb Jermaine, Torbjørn, and The Rogue Pianist. Erin shared with us, "there is a line in the song that sums up our mission really well:  it's hard not to love when you sing together, let's use our voice to make the world better." What really inspired me is that these artists would come together to support this project. These artists came together to give a message about love and kindness. What do you know, Mom was right again! Everyone does have a story, and this is a really great, inspiring one to listen to. You can find "Everyone Has a Song" on iTunes and tacomarefugeechoir.bandcamp.com/releases.

For more info, go to refugeechoir.org.

Photo: Tacoma Refugee Choir conductor Erin Gunip. Credit: refugeechoir.org