On Oct. 8, six youngsters from Hiss United Methodist Church, along with adult leaders and the church's two pastors, Mark Smiley and George Weitzel, spent the day digging potatoes as part of the Change the World Campaign of the United Methodist Church.
The crew from Hiss helped dig for the spuds, and filled 120 five-gallon cans — or about 60 bushels — at First Fruit Farms in Freeland.
First Fruits is a nonprofit, 100-acre farm staffed by volunteers, who over the last six years have provided 3.1 million pounds of produce to various soup kitchens, shelters and food banks.
Weitzel said, "It was a rewarding morning of hard work, a beautiful day, and a wonderful opportunity to serve with fellow Christians of all ages."
Other people from the congregation worked to beautify the church grounds and building.
That Saturday was chosen for the project because it coincided with a Baltimore Washington Conference of United Methodist Church's campaign, which urged congregations to get out of the church building and "change the world."
More than 15,000 people from 250 congregations participated in the program, performing projects such as visiting nursing homes, conducting clothing drives, feeding the homeless and performing environmental cleanups.
Calvert Hall College High School junior John Charles Lazzaro was recently named principal violist for the Preparatory Youth Orchestra for The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
He'll be performing at an upcoming concert scheduled for Dec. 10 in the Friedberg Concert Hall.
At Calvert Hall, he is McMullen scholar, and plays with the school's wind ensemble, jazz orchestra and string ensemble.
Also at Calvert Hall, students are learning about effective money management with the school's newly-opened branch of the First Financial of Maryland Federal Credit Union.
The Cardinal Branch, named for the school's mascot, is operated by student interns and a faculty advisor. Before school each day, students, faculty and staff may make deposits, open new accounts, make limited withdrawals and receive information about credit union services.
In addition to the benefit to the students who use banking services, the student interns are provided with hands-on business experience.
The first holiday event of the season will be a Christmas Festival, to be held Saturday, Nov. 5, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Babcock Presbyterian Church, 8240 Loch Raven Blvd.
The event will feature vendors such as Tastefully Simple, Scents-Ability, Paperly Stationery, Natasha's Just Brittle, Running Stitches, Crabtastic Creations, Scentsy and Cookie Lee.
In addition, knitted and crocheted accessories will be for sale. The event will feature a silent auction, Panera Bread and a children's gift shop where kids can buy gifts for their parents.
For vendor space and information, call the church office at 410- 825-3314.
Happy birthday to Carlos Vides, who turns 17 on Oct. 26, and to Jacob Van Essen, who turns 10 on Halloween! And a belated birthday wishes go to Ava Quetschenbach, who turned 5 on Oct. 16, and celebrated by blowing out all five candles on her Ravens birthday cake!
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