WHAT’S NEWS IN PETERS TOWNSHIP
CELEBRATE CHINESE
NEW YEAR!
The Pittsburgh Chinese Academy
of the South Hills will be holding its
annual Chinese New Year Celebration on
Sunday, Feb. 10, at Center Presbyterian
Church, located at 255 Center Church
Road in McMurray.
It’s the Year of the Pig! Mezzo
Soprano Danyu Xia and PCA students
will perform beginning at 2 p.m. with a
dinner, games and raffles to follow.
Tickets are $10 for adults and
$5 for kids, and can be ordered in
advance by sending an email to
[email protected].
Juliette Langley is pictured with representatives
of VFW District 24 at a ceremony honoring the
state finalists in the Voice of Democracy contest.
VFW ANNOUNCES
2017-2018 WINNERS IN
VOICE OF DEMOCRACY
ESSAY AND SPEECH
CONTEST
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 764
(McMurray) and VFW District 24
(Washington and Greene counties)
recently celebrated and honored the
patriotism of the region’s high school
students during the two organizations’
annual Voice of Democracy awards
ceremonies.
Juliette Langley, a 10th grader at Peters
Township High School, earned first
place in the VFW Post 764 competition,
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then advanced and won first place in
the VFW District 24 competition. She
then competed as a finalist at the state
level, and was awarded sixth place.
The Voice of Democracy program
encourages high school students across
the state to compete in an essay and
speech contest based on a patriotic
theme. The theme for 2017-2018 was
“American History: Our Hope for
the Future.”
Voice of Democracy second- and
third-place winners at the local Post 764
level were Makenna Marino and Morgan
Byers, both of Peters Township.
Created in 1947, the Voice of
Democracy scholarship program is an
audio-essay contest for high school
students in grades 9 through 12 that
annually provides more than $3 million
in scholarships. The program is endorsed
by the National Association of Secondary
School Principals’ contest criteria and is
designed to foster patriotism by allowing
students the opportunity to voice their
opinion in a three- to five-minute essay
based on an annual theme.
Consisting of 83,000 members in
450 local posts, the VFW Department
of Pennsylvania is the largest state
department of the organization. VFW
posts and auxiliaries provide $2.5 million
in college scholarships to high school
students every year.
In Pennsylvania, VFW organizations
donate more than $13 million and
volunteer more than $15 million hours’
worth of community service annually.
Local posts benefit their communities
through support of programs that benefit
youth, senior citizens, military personnel,
less fortunate persons, veterans of all ages,
students, and teachers.
The VFW has been a critical supporter
of every major piece of legislation that
benefits veterans and their families, and
its legislative affairs office in Washington,
D.C., continues to advocate for those who
have served America in a military uniform
and for those defending America today.
icmags.com
A NIGHT TO SHINE AT
THE BIBLE CHAPEL
The Bible Chapel has been selected
for the fourth year in a row to serve as
one of over 600 locations around the
world to simultaneously host a Night to
Shine event on Feb. 8. Sponsored by the
Tim Tebow Foundation, Night to Shine
is a completely free and unforgettable
prom night experience centered on
God’s love for people with special needs
ages 14 and older. The event aims to
change how culture embraces people
with special needs and to rally the church
worldwide to stand up for those who are
differently abled.
In February 2018, 537 churches
hosted 90,000 guests in 16 countries,
including Albania, Burundi, Canada,
Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Kenya,
Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Peru,
the Philippines, South Africa, Uganda,
Ukraine, and the United States. The Bible
Chapel was host to over 300 of those
honored guests as they had the times
of their lives, and this year that number
could grow to 400!
In addition to the volunteers who make
this event happen each year, numerous
local businesses come together to sponsor
the event, providing everything from
food, to limo service, to hair and makeup
service in order to make the night special
for every guest.
For additional information
on the Night to Shine, visit
nighttoshinepittsburgh.org.
EVERYONE DESERVES A
CLEAN AND BEAUTIFUL
NEIGHBORHOOD
Join the Great American Cleanup of PA
Cleaning up your neighborhood is one
of the best investments you can make.
Whether you have vacant lots plagued
with debris, natural areas that are dumped
on, or litter blown from down the street,
any neighborhood can be lifted up by
positive action.