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VOL. 15, NO. 1

Church gym kicks off kids program

BOONSBORO The new gymnasium at Benevola UMCs Spiritual Life Center is filled with energy the second Thursday of the month. Thats when Fit Kids 4 Christ meets.

The new program started by the church, invites children, ages 4-10, to enjoy an afternoon of physical activities and exercises.

For the kick-off session Nov. 17 children came to play games, have a yoga session where they imagined themselves to be trees with deep roots and long branches, and hop, jump and run, under the direction of Beth Carnes and Lisa Ridenour.

The program is designed especially for the winter months, said the Rev. Helen Smith. During Christmas vacation, the children will also have a special morning session, Smith said.

The Fit Kids program is free. The church provides transportation from the nearby elementary schools.

Accessibility award goes to Bel Air UMC

BEL AIR Among the winners at the 2003 Employment of Persons with Disabilities awards this year was Bel Air UMC.

Awards were given to a prestigious group of businesses and individuals by the Harford County Committee for Employment of People with Disabilities, to recognize workers, employers and organizations which have contributed to advancing possibilities for individuals with disabilities, reported the Aegis newspaper.

The Rev. Peggy Groseclose accepted the Barrier Free Design Award on behalf of the church.

Bel Air UMC has made many renovations improving accessibility, including ramps to all areas of the building, installation of an elevator, pew cutouts for wheelchair access, lowered drinking fountains, Braille signs, hearing loops in the sanctuary and large print hymnals, the paper reported.

Suicide victims remembered at ceremony

BETHESDA Approximately 50 people attended a tree trimming and candle lighting service at North Bethesda UMC Dec. 17, to remember loved ones who had died from suicide. The theme for the fourth annual gathering was Their Memory Is a Blessing Forever.

The Rev. Debbie Scott led the service during which participants covered a tree with yellow ribbons, remembering 108 people who died by suicide, from as far back as 1938 to as recent as last month.

A suicide survivors group meets at the church the first and third Mondays each month. For information on the suicide prevention program, see www.yellowribbonMaryland.org.

Disabled young adults help others

CROFTON Lindsey Holmes, a student at the Maryland School for the Blind, was used to being helped. But now shes doing the helping.

Holmes started a group called Friends, in which she and other young adults with developmental disabilities make crafts and care packages to give to others, reported the Annapolis Capital.

They meet the second Tuesday of the month at Community UMC where her father is the pastor.

Kids with special needs have a lot of things done for them, but they also have the desire and ability to help others, and we wanted to tap into that, said the Rev. Chris Holmes.

The group recently made Thanksgiving decorations for the residents of Crofton Convalescent Center. With the help of volunteers who had prepared the materials, the group of young adults fashioned 20 colorful cornucopia wall hangings and turkey table displays.

Flight pioneer preached here

BALTIMORE The 100th anniversary of powered flight and the opening of the Smithsonians huge new flight museum near Dulles airport called to mind a United Methodist connection for the Rev. Edwin Schell, conference historian.

A memorial stained glass window bears the name of Hugh Dryden, scientist-churchman, who was local pastor at Idlewylde Methodist Episcopal Church near Towson, from 1919 to 1922, Schell reported.

A lesser-known flight pioneer than the Wright brothers, Dryden became deputy administrator of the National Air and Space Agency in 1958 until his death from cancer in 1966.

Dryden was an active Methodist and local preacher at Calvary Methodist in Washington. Johns Hopkins University holds Drydens extensive papers at its Evergreen mansion. Half of the trophies seen as one enters the National Air and Space Museum are named for him, Schell said.

As a sometime supply pastor, this churchman brought honor to his conference as few others have been able to do, Schell said.