Greater Hershey Area townlively.com
ALSO SERVING HUMMELSTOWN & MIDDLETOWN
DECEMBER 13, 2023
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL XXXVI • NO 23
HCA students serve Thanksgiving Feast BY FRANCINE FULTON
A
tradition began at Hershey Christian School in 1995 when students performed a holiday skit and served a Thanksgiving meal to their parents. The tradition, which later became known as the Thanksgiving Feast, was started by teacher Cindy Kern, who is now the administrator of the school, now known as Hershey Christian Academy (HCA). This year marked the 28th Thanksgiving Feast, which was prepared and served by students in second through sixth grades on Nov. 21 before the Thanksgiving break. “I remember (the first Thanksgiving Feast) well. It was my first year, and I (taught) first, second and third grade. I had 10 students,” Kern recalled. “We had studied about the Pilgrims. ... We went through their journey of starting over and their trip across (the ocean). The students asked me if they could put on a play. They wrote
their own play and then I thought we would ask the parents to come in and have a little feast.” She said that students involved in the effort still remember the feast. “The first one was very simple. We didn’t even have turkey,” said Kern. “It was a simple luncheon for people to enjoy together. It developed over the years from that first one and became a tradition. Lots of people and my former students remember, and it was so special.” To prepare for this year’s feast, students, along with 15 volunteers and four teachers, prepared the food and made table decorations on Nov. 20. “We don’t have a kitchen, so we go over to the Hershey Free Church and use their facilities. They have a commercial kitchen, and they have a smaller kitchen,” Kern explained. “The students rotate from station to station in groups, and everyone has a chance to make part of the meal.
New superintendent sworn in
Peace Tree Celebration held Thirty-six years ago, the Association of Faculty and Friends (AFF) of Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Penn State College of Medicine began an annual Peace Tree Project, which culminates with the Peace Tree Celebration at Hershey Medical Center. Contributions will continue to be accepted through the end of the year, with names listed in a scrapbook. The Peace Tree Celebration was held on Nov. 15 in the Tree
Robert J. Gildea (left) was sworn in as Lower Dauphin School District’s sixth superintendent of schools in a ceremony with Dauphin County Judge Deborah E. Curcillo on Oct. 30. For more information about the district and its schools, readers may visit www.ldsd.org.
House Cafe at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital, and a tree on the grounds of the hospital was placed and decorated with white lights in memory of or in honor of loved ones or people who had touched the lives of others in a special way. A prelude was performed by Jeff Herbst, and welcoming words were given by Vera Kolstrom. David Simmons, director of pastoral care at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical
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See Peace Tree pg 2
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See HCA pg 2 Students made their own cranberry salad (left photo) and potato filling (right photo).
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