Morgantown/Honey Brook townlively.com
SEPTEMBER 1, 2021
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL XXIX • NO 31
Twin Valley Student Wins National Pageant Title BY FRANCINE FULTON
Packing Christmas Joy In A Shoebox BY FRANCINE FULTON
illions of children throughout the world will receive a shoebox full of Christmas gifts through Operation Christmas Child (OCC), a program of Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian relief organization. Some of those boxes were filled right in Chester County. Will and Amy Shaw, regional area coordinators for the Mid-Atlantic North Region of OCC, held an outdoor shoebox packing party in the driveway and garage of their Chester County home on Aug. 23. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., participants filled shoeboxes in assembly-line fashion with items such as hair accessories, school supplies and stuffed animals. Volunteers came to help from throughout the area, and some are members of Calvary Chapel, Chester Springs, where Amy and Will attend. More than 1,200 boxes were packed during the day. Among the participants were members of the DiAddezio family of Morgantown, which includes Nelah and Mark DiAddezio, and their children, including Joseph, a student at Achievement House Charter School; Nina, who attends Conestoga Christian School in Morgantown; and Sophia. The children’s grandmother Toni DiAddezio was also present.
“ . . .W e h a v e t r i e d t o teach our kids the importance of giving. They have fun picking out gifts and filling boxes.” Will and Amy have been involved with OCC for a number of years and have personally taken part in shoebox distributions in several countries, including Paraguay. The couple shops year-round for OCC, buys in bulk and gathers donations. “They were getting rid of a bunch of Kohl’s Cares stuffed animals for 75 cents (each), so we bought 700 of
them,” said Amy, noting that one day prior to the packing party, 60 Kohl’s boxes filled with stuffed animals were delivered to their home. This year, National Collection Week for OCC will take place from Monday, Nov. 15, through Monday, Nov. 22. Local donation sites include Gateway Church in Parkesburg, Calvary Chapel of Chester Springs and East Nantmeal Christian Fellowship in Elverson. Specific times and additional locations can be found beginning on Wednesday, Sept. 15, at www.samaritanspurse .org/what-we-do/operation -christmas-child. Suggested shoebox gifts include toys, such as dolls, finger puppets and foam balls; personal care items, such as washcloths, hairbrushes and combs; and craft items, including coloring books, pens and pencils and stickers. Senders may also include a personal note to the recipient. Amy said that each box should contain a “wow” item. One of the “wow” items that the Shaws packed this year is a soccer ball with a manual air pump. For more information, email occphilly@aol.com or search for “OCC Regional Area Coordinators in PA (Mid-Atlantic North OCC)” on Facebook.
September 2-11
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“We spent three hours putting together boxes and packing the boxes,” said Nelah. “This is our first year at a packing event, but we’ve been packing individual boxes in our home for OCC for many years. We have tried to teach our kids the importance of giving. They have fun picking out gifts and filling boxes.” Will and Amy held a similar packing party at their home in 2020, but they had to limit attendance because of the pandemic. “(OCC) delivered 9 million shoeboxes in 2020; a typical year is 11 (million) or 12 million,” said Amy. “Canceling it was never an option.”
SALE
Sportsmen’s Event To Feature Dinner, Prizes BY FRANCINE FULTON
Chester County Backyard Bucks will present the group’s annual Freedom Dinner/Sportsmen’s Event on Saturday, Sept. 11, at Wagontown Fire Company, 412 W. Kings Highway (Route 340), Wagontown. The event, which will feature dinner, silent and live auctions and prize giveaways, is open to people of all ages, including hunters and non-hunters alike.
See Twin Valley Student pg 8
Maille McNicholas was crowned Miss Jr. High United States 2021.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Just Fiddlin’ Around . . . . .4 New Location, Same Cause . . . . . . . . . . .5 Community Calendar . . . .6 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . .9 House Of Worship . . . . . .12
See Sportsmen’s Event pg 2
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Packing shoeboxes are (back, from left) Amy and Will Shaw, Volunteers packed more than 1,200 shoeboxes. Joseph and Nelah DiAddezio, (middle) Nina DiAddezio, (front) Ann Good and Toni DiAddezio.
“ When they announced my name, it was the most rewarding thing ever,” said Maille McNicholas of Morgantown, who was recently crowned Miss Jr. High United States 2021. “I have been doing pageants since I was 8, and I always wanted to have that moment.” Maille, who is a ninth-grader at Twin Valley High School, won the title during the National United States Scholarship Pageant, held July 19 to 23 in Hershey. The pageant, which has the motto “Crowns Making an Impact,” is a scholarship, community service and platform-based pageant that is designed to showcase the achievements of the contestants, with an emphasis on developing communication skills, self-confidence, leadership skills and community involvement and making a difference. Contestants in various age groups competed in three areas of competition: interview, fashion and evening gown. “The first phase of the competition was the interview with a panel of four judges,” Maille explained.
“The next day we had preliminaries; that’s when we did fashion and formal wear.” The top five contestants were chosen from the preliminaries to compete in the pageant the next day. “You re-competed if you made it through, but everyone got (to be in) the opening number,” Maille noted.
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