| Programs aid Baltimore youth  BALTIMORE More than 150 people from the surrounding community came to a kickoff rally Oct. 26 at St. Marks UMC, to announce the beginning of six new programs for children ages 9 to 14. The church is partnered with Project Garrison, Inc., a community and faith-based nonprofit organization that addresses social ills such as prostitution, drug and alcohol abuse, hunger and public safety, according to Vanessa Wilson, the program assistant. It is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice. The rally featured music and African dancing, information and free food. The programs will include Project REACH, a sexual abstinence program; Project Alert, a drug prevention program; computer lab training; skills training for TV production as a career choice; a drama class; and a Baltimore City Health Department initiative to educate and train youth and young adults. Church VIM group featured on TV  OLNEY In a Nov. 13 community news segment on Fox TV Channel 5, featuring the town of Olney, eight members of a Volunteers in Mission group from Oakdale-Emory UMC were interviewed. They told of their mission in El Salvador in September. The group stayed in the town of Jayaque and constructed a cinderblock house that will make a safe and comfortable home for a single mother and her three children, reported Bob Browning. The family had been displaced by a devastating earthquake in January 2001, he said. During the last day of work, they distributed nine suitcases full of clothes, supplies and toys that were donated by church members. Including the mission group in the news segment was especially appropriate since there are a large number of Salvadoran immigrants in the viewing area, Browning said. Flocks of teens descend on church ELDERSBURG An estimated 250 high school youth packed Wesley Freedom UMC, after the areas football games Nov. 8. They came for the music of CommonRoy and Building429, and dessert at the first 5th Quarter Coffee House. The churchs youth facility was transformed with Christmas lights, a coffee-house setting and couches, said Bob Jacoby, the youth pastor. Youth were scattered all over the facility, inside and out, where 4,000 watts of rented lights illuminated the basketball and volleyball courts, and some teens turned a burn can into a marshmallow roast. I invited friends that were not in the youth group and they told me that they had fun and we should have another one, said one church teenager. (It) definitely accomplished our goal of providing a safe haven where kids could hang out with their friends in a non-threatening environment with a definite low-key Christian message, Jacoby said. Hay wagon concerts move inside HAMPSTEAD When Shiloh UMC began a concert series last June, they met outside and used a hay wagon for a stage. People came by in their cars to listen or sat on the sloping lawn next to the church. Now that the weather has turned cold, the concerts are continuing, but have moved inside the church. The idea for the first concert was to give young people something to do, in the rural community, said the Rev. Richard Brown-Whale. Thats still the idea, but the audience varies from the church youth who bring their friends to the 80-year-old neighbors, he said. Music includes heavy metal, Christian rock, blues and folk. The concerts are held on Sunday evenings once a month, skipping December. The next one will be on Jan. 19 and will feature Paul and Mary Lou Day. Area choirs come together in praise ELLICOTT CITY United in Strength, Love and Song was the theme for ChoirFest at Glen Mar UMC, Nov. 3. It was the 11th year area churches joined with Glen Mars choirs for a concert of praise and celebration. A mass choir, coordinated by Director of Music Carrie Grams included adult and childrens choirs of the five visiting churches and the host church. The 70-voice choir sang several anthems. Bell ringers, percussionists and brass players also performed. ChoirFest provides smaller member choirs an opportunity to experience singing in a performance setting with a large-voiced choir. The offering benefited Congregations Concerned for the Homeless. | 
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