LETTER CARRIER FOOD DRIVE SET FOR MAY13
The annual drive to collect staple foods for local free pantries for the needy is scheduled for Saturday, May 13. Sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers, it usually brings around 20,000 pounds of canned and packaged foods for households eligible to receive them. Residents are requested to leave a bag of food where they receive their mail that day. Cans are checked so that those near expiration time are used immediately or discarded. In Salem the rear garage area of the civic center is the collection point as trucks roll in around 2 to 6 p.m. Volunteers, including senior adults and school-age children, are needed to unpack bags and do initial sorting before the supplies are taken to sites such as the Salem-Roanoke County depot on Chapman Street for further sorting.
MUSIC IN GARDEN SCHEDULED NEXT WEEK
“Sing Me To Heaven” is the spring program of Music on the Corner, a free concert by the choir of St. John’s Episcopal Church in downtown Roanoke. It is scheduled to begin Friday, April 28 in the church garden on South Jefferson Street with refreshments at 5:15 p.m. followed by choral selections in the church at 6 with composers Handel and Brahms featured. Director David Charles Campbell will perform works by Bach, Dupre and Vierne on the organ.
SEX ABUSE PREVENTION IS THEME OF LUNCHEON
In observance of Sexual Assault Awareness Month a luncheon and message are scheduled Tuesday, April 25, at Metropolitan Community Church of the Blue Ridge,806 Jamison Ave. SE, Roanoke, from noon to 1:30 p.m. It will feature Kelsey Harrington, director of community engagement at the Roanoke Sexual Assault Crisis Center.. Issues related to faith communities and how their members can support survivors will be the theme. The meal is free but reservations are needed. Call540-344-4444.
COBB MOVING INTO NEW MINISTRY
The Rev. Joe Cobb, pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of the Blue Ridge for the past eight years, will leave that position at the end of May. Cobb said he plans to remain in the Roanoke area and devote his time to “work globally and locally” for social justice. Since his open declaration as a gay man more than a decade ago, Cobb has been active in the gay rights justice movement especially as it relates to people of faith.
REFUGEE SPONSORSHIP BEING CONSIDERED
On Tuesday, May 9, at 7 p.m. at Salem Presbyterian Church a group of religion professionals from throughout the Roanoke Valley will meet to consider the sponsorship of a refugee household. With continuing unsettled conditions, especially in the Middle East, the need to help such immigrants adapt to local conditions increases weekly.
-Submitted by correspondent Frances Stebbins
