Garden Spot townlively.com
APRIL 26, 2023
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL LIX • NO 18
Global experience without leaving New Holland BY ANN MEAD ASH
“(Night Around the World) is free for anybody to come,” said Julie Groft, coordinator of the Coordinated Health Council, an organization of Garden Spot High School (GSHS) that provides fun, educational, and healthy activities for the district. Night Around the World is an activity that introduces attendees to food, culture, and information about a large number of countries. The event is generally held every two years. It was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, and it was held in 2021 as a drivethrough event at GSHS. This year, Groft said that organizers voted to hold the celebration of world cultures inside the school, 669 E. Main St., New Holland, on Thursday, May 4, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Area residents who attend are asked to enter through the doors at the back of the school where tickets are sold for sporting events. Activities will take place in the main cafeteria, auxiliary cafeteria, and the old gym. Arrows with a motif of the earth on
them will be placed on the floor to direct visitors to different locations where they may visit stations. “Come in and eat,” said Groft, who noted foods from about 20 countries will be available in the auxiliary cafeteria. Countries represented by the cuisine will include China, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain, Sweden, and Vietnam. “In the main cafeteria, our exchange students are creating a ‘Just Dance’ video,” said Groft, who noted that the program uses Wii gaming system technology. About eight students, who come from a number of countries, including Spain, Germany, and Italy, have used songs from their countries to create the program. “It will be pretty cool,” said Groft, who noted that the students will also talk about their home countries and share what it has been like to be an exchange student at GSHS. A coordinator of a student exchange program will also be present to talk to attendees about what is involved in hosting an exchange student in the area. See Global experience pg 9
Students associated with the Garden Spot High School Coordinated Health Council lined up to hand out food when Night Around the World was held as a drive-through in 2021.
A story that resonates love and grief
BY ANN MEAD ASH
Author will share tale of her grandmother at GSV GDN
BY ANN MEAD ASH
Author Nancy Bieber displays the letters that inspired her to write “Fianna’s Story: A True Story of Love, Grief and Faith.”
After Nancy Bieber’s father, Ammon Meyer, died, Bieber inherited a shoebox full of letters. The shoebox was stored in her attic, and it remained there until about 2015. “I had to discover what I had,” said Bieber. “At some point you have to sort through things.” At first, she would only open a letter occasionally, but soon Bieber realized that the letters were keys to the life of her biological grandmother, Fianna, who had died of tuberculosis in 1915, leaving Bieber’s grandfather, Samuel, and two young children,
Serving the nations
Ammon and Leah. “I thought, ‘Oh, my goodness. What have I here?’” said Bieber, who noted that among the letters were some written by Fianna to Samuel before they married or from Fianna to Samuel while her grandmother lived at White Haven in Luzerne County. She also found postcards from her father sent to his mother when he was just 3 that read, “Dear Mama, I miss you.” For Bieber, who had not heard much about her grandmother while growing up, the letters were a treasure. “My grandmother died when my father was not yet 4 years old,” said Bieber. “His memories of her were small.”
“I grew up Amish in Strasburg,” said Lin Fisher, who noted that reaching out to places beyond that small community was always in her heart. “I wanted to go out to the nations … to be part of something bigger,” shared Fisher, who spent 10 years as a missionary working in a leper colony in India. On the return flight from India in 2015, she felt unsure about the future. “I thought, ‘ What am I going to do now?’” said Fisher. “I felt the Lord give me the words ‘Do something.’ We can all do something.”
See GSV pg 3
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At first, Fisher felt directed to James 1:27, where Christians are instructed to care for widows and orphans, and she reached out to about four widows living in her Gordonville development. Eventually, the group included up to 50 widows meeting on occasion and taking “mystery” bus trips around the county. She founded DOsomething Nations, focused on the mission to “Give. Feed. Clothe. Visit. Invite.” and in February of this year, Fisher learned of an earthquake that had occurred in the Middle East. She quickly contacted a friend from Petra Church in New Holland, See Petra Church pg 2
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