The Grace Brethren Church of West Kittanning, Pennsylvania (Pastor John Patrick), was highlighted in Saturday’s Kittanning Daily-Leader Times. Here is the article:
Maybe it’s just luck, or perhaps help from a higher power, but a community day planned by Grace Brethren Church for Sept. 11 really came together this year.
This year, the third such community day organized by the church, features top-notch entertainment and a host of different displays, as well as games and free food.
According to Dr. Jim Childs, one of the organizers of the event, the day will feature displays from various emergency responders including a special decontamination unit, the American Red Cross and many others, while afternoon entertainment will include magician Tim Kutch and the Kittanning Firemen’s Band.
“This whole process sort of came out of 9/11,” he said. “It was sort of an effort to promote community spirit.”
“People tend not to interact as much as they used to,” Childs added.
The church was lucky enough to have Sept. 11 fall on a Saturday, enabling them to hold their community day on a day of the week that most people have free.
Childs said the idea originally started as an effort simply to have people interact with their neighbors and fellow community members, and the memory of the terror attacks of 9/11 makes that day a logical choice for a community day.
“That’s one of the reasons we chose to have it on 9/11,” he said, because of the feeling of unity spawned from that day.
With their community day falling on the third anniversary of the terror attacks, Childs said it seemed appropriate to have something special for that day, so they inquired about the Firemen’s Band. “We thought that would be a nice emphasis that we hadn’t had before,” he said.
Again, as fate would have it, the firemen’s band was already booked for an event on Sept. 11, but ended up being able to do both that day. In addition to the Firemen’s Band concert, scheduled to begin at 6:45 p.m., magician Tim Kutch will perform at 3:30 p.m., and ventriloquist Daniel Robison will be on at 5 p.m. There will also be free popcorn and games for all ages at the event, he said.
The community day will be held from 3 to 8 p.m. Sept. 11, at the church’s multipurpose building at 215 Arthur St. in West Kittanning. For additional information, call the church at 724-543-4019.