| CROP walks to feed the hungry GLEN BURNIE CROP Walks are no longer only in rural areas. Today churches in suburban and urban areas are just as likely to participate to raise funds to fight hunger in their own areas as well as around the world. Glen Burnie UMC is the starting point in the northern part of Anne Arundel County, one of the countys three CROP Walks Oct. 19, starting at 1 p.m. Eight other North County United Methodist churches will participate in the walk. Sponsored by Church World Service, the walks first began in 1947. At that time CROP was an acronym for Christian Rural Overseas Program. People in some 2,000 communities throughout the United States seek sponsorships for their walks. Last year, the North County CROP Walk raised $13,200, of which nearly $3,300 was given to the ecumenical North County Emergency Outreach Network. Twenty-five percent of the funds raised this year will also go to NCEON, said Paul Shaffer, coordinator for the event. 
School garden memorializes 9/11 victims WASHINGTON Among the commemorative services observed on the second anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, was the dedication of a school garden memorializing Hilda Taylor, a member of Ryland-Epworth UMC. Taylor, an immigrant from Sierra Leone, taught at Leckie Elementary School in Southwest Washington. She and Bernard Brown, 11, were aboard Flight 77 when it crashed into the Pentagon. A year ago, the students and teachers at the school began making a garden to memorialize Taylor, Brown and two parents who also died in the Pentagon attack. It was dedicated in ceremonies that included city and school officials, members of the families who lost their loved ones, and the whole school. Taylors 37-year-old son, Dennis Stafford, was one family member who attended the service. I am dealing with it bit by bit. It is tough. It is a very slow healing process, he said, according to the Washington Post. Hurricane doesnt deter fair-goers FREDERICK For 35 years Trinity UMC has kept its tent open around the clock at the Great Frederick County Fair. After the fair closes and the crowds dissipate, church volunteers keep it open to serve the carnival workers and city police officers, said Brian Fischer, chairman of this years event, and one of the 75 to 100 volunteers who signed up to work in four-hour shifts. The church sells breakfasts, mostly in the morning; homemade soups; chili and a wide range of sandwiches, including crab cakes, fried oyster, sloppy joes and hamburgers. The United Methodist Women start preparing the 100 gallons of vegetable and bean soups in May and June. This year gross receipts will be about $27,000, down from $35,000 raised last year, Fischer said, because the tent had to come down Sept. 18 for 24 hours during hurricane Isabel. Ten percent of the net goes to Trinitys mission work area, and the remainder is part of the church budget. Church featured in award-winning video  SEVERNA PARK Not only was Severna Park UMC the subject of a recent video, it was an award-winning video. The producer, Doug Maddox of DBM Communications, Inc., won a Telly Award, the highest award of its kind, for the work that he did on the film.
The 13-minute touch-screen video is housed in the Welcome Center in the portico of the church. The kiosk that holds the video was built as a gift by Ray Claytor, a church member, and is easily accessible to visitors who are seeking information about the church, said the Rev. Andrea Titcomb, minister of evangelism. | 
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