Columbia/Hellam/Wrightsville JULY 16, 2025
JULY 26 TASTE OF MOUNT JOY CRUISIN CUSINE CAR SHOW 11:00 A.M. TO 2:30 P.M.
AUG. 9 PLEIN AIR QUICK DRAW Presented by Mount Joy Area Historical Society
8:00 A.M. TO 2:00 P.M.
OCT. 24 DOWNTOWN SPOOKTACULAR Presented by Mount Joy Area Chamber of Commerce
REACHING MORE THAN 6,480 HOMES
Shining Bright at the Boys & Girls Club
Lancaster’s Forgotten Major League Legacy
BY CAT SHANNON
BY CAT SHANNON
“T
he club is a great place to just be a kid and grow up in a safe place,” said Andionette “Andi” Ortiz, describing the Boys & Girls Club of Lancaster. “I enjoy mentoring younger members and enjoy art projects at the club.” Andi, who has belonged to the club for two years, recently received acknowledgement of her contributions to the programming when she was honored as one of the club’s Youths of the Year for 2025. The Boys & Girls Club of Lancaster holds annual recognition award banquets to honor the achievements of the outstanding young people at the club. Club members are recognized for their hard work, striving to improve their grades, improve their skills on the basketball court or on the chess board, explore science in STEM See Bright pg 3
Andi Ortiz
Hope Lives Here BY CAT SHANNON
WINTERFEST
2:00 P.M. TO 5:00 P.M.
VISIT
Mount Joy
In 2014, Mable and John Hershey saw a need in their community and felt called to act. They realized a personal care home on Cherry Street in Columbia faced closure, displacing its residents. “Being the kind of people we are, we said, ‘Let’s see what we can do to maybe keep it open,’” Mable recalled. “We’re people that have a caring heart. We knew these 30 people living there would not have a home to live in if this had to close.”
R118888
For the next three years, the Hersheys began the arduous work of turning the home into a nonprofit organization and improving the site. “ Through many miracles of people giving us funds, we were able to make it a nonprofit and make improvements to the home,” Mable shared. Neither Mable nor John had any experience running a nonprofit. “We were farmers before this,” Mable said. They relied on their Our Home of Hope residents faith and help from fr iends, participate in an Adopt-a-Block See Hope pg 4 program.
Our Apricots Bumper Crop
• Can • Freeze • Preserve • Eat Lots = Vitamin A&C, Potassium, and Fiber! Yes, a “Super Food” *Market is full of local produce!
In the heart of Lancaster city, land at the junction of Juliette and Frances avenues hides a secret, and it’s one that local resident Jeremy Raff is determined to bring back into the light. Nearly a century ago, the site housed Rossmere Base Ball Park, where some of baseball’s greatest talents played, but their stories have long gone untold. In the 1920s, Rossmere hosted the Harrisburg Giants, an Eastern Colored League team led by center fielder and player-manager Oscar Charleston, whom historians rank among the greatest baseball players of all time. Alongside him were teammates like Rap Dixon, a talented outfielder and all-around powerhouse, and Clarence “Fats” Jenkins, a dynamic leadoff hitter who later starred in basketball and earned a spot in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. T hou g h Jack ie Robins on broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947, Lancaster had hosted major league-level Black baseball decades earlier - a fact often forgotten until Major League Baseball officially recognized Negro League statistics as major league records in 2020. Also largely forgotten was the role Lancaster city played in promoting Negro League games. From 1925-27, the Giants played 20 exhibitions at Rossmere and several league games with thousands of fans in attendance. T he players thrilled crowds with feats like their triple steal in the eighth inning of their first league game See Legacy pg 5
Beautiful Flowers
This is the Year to:
POSTMASTER: PLEASE DELIVER JUL. 16, 2025
PRSRT STD ECRWSS U.S. Postage Paid Engle Printing Co
Postal Patron
C WM
5:00 P.M. TO 8:00 P.M.
DEC. 6
VOL LXVI • NO 20
400 Long Lane At Marticville Road (Rts. 741 & 324S) 3 Miles S. of Lancaster
10%-50% OFF • Annuals • Perennials • Shrubs
Mon.-Sat. 8-6, Closed Sunday • 717-872-9311 www.cherryhillorchards.com
R119751
SAVE THE DATE!
SERVING OUR COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954