Under the baobab: Powerful exhibits, community awards and more in Happy Valley
Racism, Antisemitism ... Bigotry and Prejudice ... All this hating and more. That stuff is still with us. And it’s up to us to fight it.” — Sgt. Leon Bass, World War II, Buchenwald Liberator
The American Philatelic Society in Bellefonte opened a thought provoking and inspiring exhibit last week, “A Philatelic Memorial of the Holocaust.” Cathy Brachbill coordinated the APS exhibit until she retired, then editor in chief Susanna Mills served as the exhibit coordinator. Marian Mills served as librarian while Fred Fox, the facilities manager, was the chief builder. Charlotte Sheer began the Holocaust Stamps Project in 2009 with her fifth-grade class at Foxborough Regional Charter School in Massachusetts. Part of the exhibit contains 11 million postage stamps, each representing a single person slaughtered by the Nazis before and during World War II. Sheer said,
“In our culturally diverse classroom a seed of awareness was planted. With a number so unfathomable, I challenged the class to try collecting one postage stamp for every person who perished in the Holocaust. Why stamps? They’re small and accessible. The intent was to use stamps as a symbol for something of value being discarded, as millions of people’s lives were discarded by the Nazis.”
Elsewhere in town
The Ghana Medical Relief (GMR ) Project led by its president and founder, Dr. Samuel Kwapong Owusu and his wife Belinda held a fundraiser for about 100 folks at the Axemann Brewery in Bellefonte. Music was presented by local celebs Eric Ian Farmer, Molly Countermine and Bob Hart. GMR works in collaboration with hospitals, churches and organizations in the U.S. for supplies and medical equipment that are donated to hospitals and clinics in Ghana. The organization consists of health care providers, teachers, engineers and others. Their goal is to provide health care missions annually to local villages in Ghana, where they screen for health issues and educate the villagers on preventive health care.
The State College Borough resumed its ABC Awards dinner this past week after a three-year hiatus. Certificates and accolades were presented to those who recently served. The Borough also presented the XYZ and Legacy awards. The XYZ Award recognizes individuals for making an exemplary contribution while serving as a member of a Borough Authority, Board or Commission, and for being instrumental in fulfilling projects benefiting the community. The award winner for the year of 2020 was Colleen Ritter; for the year 2021, Larry Miles; for the year 2022, Paul Jovanis and for the year 2023, Mark Bergstrom.
The Legacy Award is to recognize people or organizations who have led in the creation of a significant service, facility or program that has improved the appearance, health or welfare of the Borough of State College and whose service, facility or program has met the test of time. The winners of the Legacy Award for the year of 2020, Carmine Prestia and Palmer Museum of Art; for the year 2021, Elaine Meder-Wilgus and The State Theatre; for the year 2022, Charles and Jo Dumas and the late Pat Daugherty, longtime owner of the Tavern; for the year 2023, Barbara Farmer and Patricia Best.
The State College Spikes began the season by winning their first three games and distributing special hats in celebration of Pride Month. The Pride Month Parade will be held on June 10 at 3 p.m. followed by a 4:30 p.m. festival in Sidney Friedman Park and is a collaboration of the Centre LGBTQA Support Network, the State College Borough and the Downtown State College Improvement District.
Special Olympics Pennsylvania Summer Games will be held June 8-10 at PSU.
Brothers and sisters, these difficult times will more than likely get even more stressful but the sun will come up, tomorrow. Scripture advises that “weeping may remain for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” Keep your hands on the plow. Hold on.