Elizabethtown townlively.com
JANUARY 10, 2024
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
Walking around the world BY CATHY MOLITORIS
E
very time she plans a trip, Tracy Pawelski considers one thing first: Where can she walk? Tracy, who has traveled to 40 countries, has conquered some of the longest walks in the world, including El Camino de Santiago - an ancient pilgrimage in Spain, the scenic Dingle Way in Ireland and the Annapurna Circuit in the Himalayas. She’ll talk about her experiences when the Elizabeth Hughes Society presents “ Walking Around the World.” The program will
Juliet (left) and Tracy Pawelski on El Camino
Highlights of the walk included the Cruz de Ferro or Iron Cross. “It’s a humble place where people bring a token from home, and they leave it there,” Tracy explained. “It’s about leaving behind whatever
burdens you’re carrying.” From her experience, Tracy wrote her first book in her “One Woman” travel series, “One Woman’s Camino.” “The walk was all about metaphors, and that’s what the book
is about, too,” she said. “When we were walking, I carried a pack on my back that weighed about 15 pounds. Juliet carried about 30 pounds. This was a metaphor for what we all need to carry on our journey through life. It’s dif-
The students at Kraybill Mennonite School (KMS) in Mount Joy live by the Word of God, including the importance of serving others. “It tells us in the Bible (to give to others),” said kindergartner Ruby Hershey. She was one of the students schoolwide who participated in a project to support Elizabethtown Community Housing and Outreach Services (ECHOS) in December. Students collected packages of individually wrapped snack items to assemble to-go bags for the organization. Students also decorated brown paper bags and worked together to assemble the bags with the food items that guests at the Elizabethtown Emergency Shelter can take with them when they leave the shelter for the day. “One of the goals of KMS is to share the love of Jesus with our community,” said fifthgrade teacher Cindy Raezer, who coordinated the project with kindergarten teacher Ashlie Cobb. “This is a tangible way to show that love. It is also important for the students to learn at a young age to give to others.” Each year, staff members at the school choose a Christmas project for students to help a local organization. ECHOS was a natural choice, Cobb said. “After looking into this amazing organization, we saw all that they do to support residents in our community who are struggling with housing and food insecur ity,” she recalled. Working with ECHOS See Students pg 6 R102845
See Walking pg 3
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Kraybill students give back BY CATHY MOLITORIS
“ L o o k f o r yo u r n e x t inspired step, and take it.” be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 22, at St. Paul’s Church of Elizabethtown, 398 N. Locust St., Elizabethtown. The meeting is open to the public. Professionally, Tracy worked in strategic communications and reputation management for a variety of companies and organizations, including Giant Food Stores. In 2015, she decided it was time for something new. Her daughter, Juliet, had just graduated from college, and she wanted to walk El Camino. “I was looking for my next step, and I asked her if I could come along,” Tracy recalled, noting she was delighted when Juliet agreed. “How many 21-year-old girls want to walk 500 miles with their mom?” That walk was Tracy’s first long-distance trek, and she loved it. It took her 35 days to complete the walk.
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