Elizabethtown townlively.com
JULY 26, 2023
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
Cornerstone Youth Center undergoes renovations
ExHaLTT Performing Arts Academy opens new location
BY CATHY MOLITORIS
BY CATHY MOLITORIS
hanks to a grant from the Rotary Club of Elizabethtown, Cornerstone Youth Center is getting a facelift. Work has been underway for several weeks at the organization, located at 95 S. Wilson Ave., Elizabethtown. One of the projects has been moving the entrance to bring students into a bigger, more welcoming space, said Jim Bush, executive director. Renovations will include painting the foyer, installing cubbies and coat hooks where students may put their belongings and setting up a check-in and checkout station.
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Since the end of May, Jill Thomasson has been working hard to transform a space in Elizabethtown into a nonprofit center for the arts. ExHaLTT Performing Arts Academy will celebrate its new location at 18 N. Market St., Elizabethtown, with open houses
on Monday, Aug. 14, and Tuesday, Aug. 15, from 6 to 9 p.m. each evening. “We will have light refreshments, and people will have the opportunity to meet and greet our board of directors,” Thomasson said. “We’ll have a testimonial video people can watch about what we do, and we’ll have The Dancer’s Pointe from See Performing arts pg 5
Painting is being completed by various community groups, including volunteers from Victory Church and from the Rotary Club. “We have a lot more room when the kids come in this way,” Bush said. “It won’t be as congested as they check in, and they have a big space to just hang out until our programs start.” The Rotary Club granted $5,000 to Cornerstone, with funds also set to cover the cost of renovations to the existing café on-site. Cornerstone held a series of focus groups as part of its five-year strategic plan, asking parents, volunteers, community members and students what they’d like to see from the organization. “ We spoke to students who attend Cornerstone regularly, and we also talked to those who don’t attend,” Bush said. “We asked them, ‘What is something we could do to
ExHaLTT Performing Arts Academy offers classes for children and adults.
Chicken barbecue will benefit Hope Within Ministries Rotary member Kevin Schafer (left) presents a check to Jim Bush, executive director of Cornerstone Youth Center.
make Cornerstone more appealing to you?’ One of the things that kept coming up, especially among the girls, was a coffeehouse.” Cornerstone currently serves food every day it’s open, including snacks, drinks and dinner, but Bush was inspired to transform the space next to the café into a coffeehouse. Three booths will be installed along the windows, with an additional large corner booth. Seating in the area will be replaced, surrounding a coffee table, and the room will be painted.
“ We want this to be a space where kids can come in, talk, play games and have conversations, either amongst themselves or with our volunteers,” Bush noted, adding that the coffeehouse will offer a quieter alternative to the building’s game room, basketball court and skatepark. Cornerstone currently provides after-school programming from 3 to 6 p.m. for middle-school students on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, as well as for high-school students
BY CATHY MOLITORIS
Picking up dinner on Saturday, Aug. 12, will help neighbors in need. Hope Within Ministries will hold a drive-through chicken barbecue from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the parking lot of its office, 4748 E. Harrisburg Pike, Elizabethtown. Preorders must be made by Tuesday, Aug. 1. The meal will feature a halfchicken from Nolt’s Chicken BBQ, a baked potato, applesauce, a roll, butter and a drink. “Hope Within has held our chicken barbecue fundraisers annually since
2021, usually having one in the summer and another in the fall,” explained Audrie Zettick Schaller, director of development. “They are popular because donors can help support our work by doing something they already do - eat. Also, when you purchase tickets online, you have an option of picking up the meal for yourself or donating it toward the benefit of one of our client families.” Hope Within Community Health, Counseling and Dental Center provides free primary medical care, many prescriptions and donation-based dental care to medically uninsured See Chicken barbecue pg 2 R097321
See Cornerstone pg 4
Let us show you the difference a caring neighbor can make. Rothermel-Finkenbinder Funeral Home & Crematory, Inc. Palmyra | 717-838-9211 Travis S. Finkenbinder, Supervisor
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“We want this to be a space where kids can come in, talk, play games and have conversations, either amongst themselves or with our volunteers.”
Miller-Finkenbinder Funeral Home & Crematory Elizabethtown | 717-367-1543 Thomas W. Ford, Supervisor
Fager-Finkenbinder Funeral Home & Crematory, Inc. Middletown | 717-944-7413 Alana A. Ace, Supervisor