Morgantown/Honey Brook townlively.com
AUGUST 2, 2023
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL XXXI • NO 26
Chester County Connect Care to offer free Summer Picnic
Featured at the picnic will be children’s games (left photo) and face painting (right photo). BY FRANCINE FULTON
Volunteers who replaced flood-damaged siding included (from left) Lisa Mullen, Rod Norman, Monica Block, Bob Shakespeare and Neal Nyce.
MTBB celebrates 10 years of community service BY FRANCINE FULTON
his year marks the 10th anniversary of Mission Trip Birdsboro & Beyond (MTBB), a ministry where community members volunteer to help local homeowners in need with repair projects. Workers also complete projects at public sites, including local parks. For this year’s effort, more than 150 volunteers worked from July 18 to 22 at 48 homes in the area and on two community projects, including the community garden at St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Birdsboro. The week culminated with a closing celebration held at Reading Country Club. Each morning, the crews gathered at St. Mark’s, where church members prepared breakfast for the volunteers,
“Christ teaches us to take action through faith, love, service to others, mercy, justice and forgiveness.” T-shirts that read, “Your Hand Is God’s Hand,” based on Proverbs 3:27. Additionally, a “God’s Hands at Work” sign was posted at each work site. At one home in Robeson Township, crews replaced flood-damaged wooden siding. “We are removing
all of the existing siding and replacing the bottom four feet of siding where there was flood damage,” explained volunteer Monica Block. “Today we are doing all the replacement work, and tomorrow we are painting all the wood at the bottom and the top and putting new stucco on the bottom.” This is Block’s sixth year volunteering with MTBB. “I grew up in Birdsboro, and for me, it’s a way to give back,” she said. “The (homeowner) is a single mother, and I was raised by a single mother, so I knew what that was like growing up.” The summer volunteer program started in 2014 as Mission Trip Birdsboro, a ministry of St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in Birdsboro. “St. Paul’s started the ministry to do mission work close to home without costly travel and to address
See Summer Picnic pg 5
Heritage Club seeks to preserve the history of Birdsboro BY FRANCINE FULTON
Birdsboro-area residents interested in local history are invited to attend a meeting of the Birdsboro Heritage Club. The group meets on the first Saturday of the month at 9 a.m. at the Birdsboro Community Memorial Center (BCMC). The next scheduled meeting will be on Aug. 5, and the topic of discussion will be the Bird Mansion. The group was founded by BCMC board president Todd Peterson, who established a “Birdsboro of Yesterday” Facebook page several
years ago where he and local residents share historical photos and videos from the area. “We (meet monthly) to discuss the history of our town,” Peterson explained. “We choose a topic, and then I present something at the meeting. We have been getting about 10 to 12 people attending.” Past meeting topics have included “The Great 1927 Birdsboro Post Office Robbery,” the schools of Birdsboro and the Birdsboro trolley, which once operated along a 7-mile stretch on what is now Route 724. In addition to holding meetings,
See Community service pg 5
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who then departed to the various work sites. They completed jobs such as painting, power washing, making roof repairs and landscaping, which included pulling weeds and mulching. Volunteers wore matching
Chester County Connect Care (CCCC), formerly known as Chester County Women’s Services, will hold its third annual Summer Picnic on Saturday, Aug. 5, from 4 to 7 p.m. The event will be held at a new location this year - West Brandywine Township Park. Admission to the family-friendly event is free. Activities will include yard games, live music and food trucks, and there will be face painting and balloon animals for children. A petting zoo is also planned. Scheduled to perform in the
park’s amphitheater are Bryar Bullock from Freedom Life (FL) Church in Christiana and his worship band, as well as youths from FL Kids, who will sing and dance. Singer Erica Barnes will be featured, as well as Gabe Mahalik, who will perform comedy and rap. There will also be a drone demonstration by officer Richard Craig from the West Brandywine Township Police Department. The guest speaker will be Joe Knopp, executive producer of the movie “Unplanned.” “We encourage people to bring blankets and chairs and stay for a while. We will have all entertainment
See Heritage Club pg 4
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