 Access has become an issue for aging members of local church congregations.
"We had to go outside when we wanted to go up [to the sanctuary] or down [to the social hall]," said Merle Farmer, a member of Bethesda United Methodist Church. "That's a problem for people using walkers or in wheelchairs, especially in bad weather." One option would have been to install an elevator in the Martic Township church. "We considered that but the cost was just too high," Farmer said recently. Then the congregation discovered there was another, less expensive, option. There's no place like home.
Even when it's much smaller than the original. The house, a replica of his home place in York County, was built by the late Ernest Fauth in 1983. The Quarryville resident built it as a favor for his daughter, Wilma Fauth Jones. The new engine bays being built on the south end of Quarryville's fire station should be ready for use by May.
"It could be as early as April if the weather holds," said Ron Swayne, chairman of the fire company's building committee. "We're three-quarters of the way done, due in large part to the weather," he said last week. The work got off to a late start. The volunteers expected to begin construction early last summer, but delays in finalizing a mortgage with BB&T Bank put the work on hold until October 31, 2016. That meant the start date actually came two weeks after the original completion date. "In a year's time, I didn't see many of the roadmasters in the lower half of Lancaster County," Jason McClune said last week, "and our supervisors have been pushing better communications with other townships."
So McClune wrapped up his first year as Providence Township's roadmaster by hosting a meeting of fellow roadmasters. "I wanted to open the lines of communication so, if we go out for bids, we might be able to get a better deal if we did it as a group," he said.  Late Friday morning, February 3, three Solanco High School seniors began packing weekend food bags for 71 Clermont Elementary School students.
"We come every Friday to do this," said Michael Stock. Stock, like his fellow volunteers, is a member of the high school's FBLA chapter. The chapter members alternate to pack the bags. It's been nearly two years since banners honoring veterans for their service were hung along Quarryville's streets.
Those banners will be coming down this summer, to be replaced by a new set, organizer Scott Peiffer said last week. "It will be two years in July [since the first set was hung]," he said. "We're starting now to give ourselves four to five months lead time." There are 130 banners along borough streets and in the parking lot of TownsEdge Shopping Village. There are banners honoring World War I veterans through those who served in the ongoing War on Terrorism.  The Bible has answers to a troubling issue ranging from major metropolitan areas to the Southern End.
Sharing that Biblical guidance is the main reason Faith Reformed Presbyterian Church will be holding a two-day seminar on gender identity later this month. The church's senior pastor, the Rev. Sam Andreades, will lead the seminar on Friday evening, February 24, and Saturday morning, February 25. The seminar will be held at the church, 611 Robert Fulton Highway, Quarryville. "There are so many questions on people's minds about this," the Rev. Andreades said last week. "All of these things are coming to a head because our culture is changing. People are very confused by the culture and the way it's changing." Those cultural changes include the legalization of same-sex marriages and legal issues about gender identity.  For years, the Solanco Pastors Fellowship and its successor published a booklet listing local churches.
The main directory was sorted by denomination with cross references by church name and pastor. When the pastors' group was replaced by Solanco Neighborhood Ministries, the directory was left behind. In 2012/13, New Hope Community Life Ministry compiled an updated list but without the cross references.  The Friends of the Quarryville Library plan to hold their next three-day book sale in October. Those plans are very tentative, said the group's president, Carol Biscardi. The quarterly three-day sales may become a thing of the past before fall, she said. That doesn't mean the group will stop holding sales. They will hold more frequent smaller sales rather than scheduling them every three months, Biscardi said. The merger of a local firm with one from Maine will expand the markets and product lines of both companies.
On January 30, Frey Brothers and Coast of Maine Organic Products announced their merger. "As a family company, this is a positive move for us," said Jamie Kreider of Frey Brothers. "Frey has wonderful relationships with our customers and we are pleased to have the additional resources and marketing support to expand our product reach."  "There's no thought involved and we can put our worries behind us when we're doing this," said Donna Trimble of the informal group that meets at 11:30 on Tuesday mornings.
The work ranges from printed patterns to bookmarks and cards. "We do the cards so we can enclose them with the paperback books we send to service members overseas," said Carol Biscardi. These aren't kids' coloring books, ones printed on rough paper and designed to be done in primary colors with broad-tipped crayons. This work is precise, detailed, ornate, and relaxing. The last is one of the reasons members continue to hold their hour-long adult coloring gatherings every week at the Quarryville Library. When he came home from serving in Vietnam, Scott Hauer knew he had issues arising from his service.
Learning to write to deal with those issues took decades. Now he and journaling expert Annie Ginder are helping other veterans use the same system to cope with the psychological effects of their military service. Hauer and Ginder have put together a program called Writeface to help veterans journal their issues. That, in turn, lets the veterans decide how they want to cope with recurring problems. The idea of helping veterans deal with their stress and other issues came to Hauer after decades of ignoring the aftereffects of military service. "But I was in total denial for 18 years," the Conestoga resident said last week. Then he was forced to face them. "I got into an accident on the road in the early 90s and I started having flashbacks. That scared the daylights out of me," he said.  Fulton Township officials continue to upgrade the municipality's facilities.
The most recent improvement is a new frame shed built to house the township's front end loader and road broom. "In the summer, we'll also be putting our plows and cinder spreaders in there," said roadmaster and chairman of the board of supervisors Mike Church. "Getting them under cover will preserve the hydraulic hoses and make them last longer."  "We have enough space. We just have to find a better way to use it," said Mary Brusstar, manager of New Hope Community Closet.
That's going to happen next month. Volunteers from New Hope Community Life Ministry's church network will be spending a week reworking the store to make it easier for customers to shop and volunteers to sort donations and stock the shelves. The work will take a week to complete. The store in TownsEdge Shopping Village will close at its regular time on Saturday, February 18, and remain closed until it holds its grand reopening on Saturday, February 25. "We will be covering the windows with paper. We want people to be in for a big surprise when we reopen," Brusstar said.  When she finally steps down from her part-time position in Quarryville's borough office, Diane Hastings will remain on call in case her replacement has questions.
Her replacement, Valeria Keene, is also on call when her replacement as Bart Township's secretary-treasurer has questions about the job. Hastings has been working part-time at the borough for several years. She works several days a week, except when the quarter water and sewer bills are being compiled and mailed. Then she can work five or more days at a time. |
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