Category: Worship

Westminster Slavic Choir to sing at St. John’s this Sunday

  A free concert of sacred hymns and other liturgical music of the Eastern Slavic tradition will be presented by the Westminster Slavic Choir at 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 15, in St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church, 301 Cherry Street, Pottstown, Pa.

  The Westminster Slavic Choir features students of Westminster Choir College, Princeton, N.J.  The vocalists all are either vocal performance or music education majors at Westminster, a division of Westminster College of the Arts, a residential college of music located in Princeton, N.J.  Westminster is a four-year music college and graduate school that prepares men and women for careers as professional performers and as music leaders in schools, universities, churches, and professional and community music organizations. As Westminster Choir College students, the talented young men and women of the Slavic Choir join their peers in performing with the world’s leading orchestras in venues ranging from the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia to Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York.

Photos courtesy of Westminster Slavic Choir

  The chamber choir is directed by senior vocal performance major Andrew Skitko III, a native of Pottstown, Pa.  Drew also serves as the cantor and music director at The Assumption of The Virgin Mary Byzantine Catholic Church of Trenton, N.J., where the Westminster Slavic Choir performs about once a month.

The concert will include works by composers Bortniansky, Vedel, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Hurko, as well as traditional chant.  Selections will be performed in English as well as Old Slavonic.

Parking is located in the rear of the church.  The church is handicapped-accessible via the ramp located from the parking lot. A free-will offering will be taken.  The concert is expected to last about one hour.

For further information, please contact Andrew Skitko III, choral director at 610-220-3479 or via e-mail at  skitkoa@rider.edu

“Fill the Media Lab” food drive approaches goal!

Wow! Thanks to the sustained and last-minute generosity of residents, businesses, schools, churches, and community groups in the Pottstown region, the “Fill the Media Lab” food drive, spearheaded by The Mercury and other newspapers and bloggers, is nearing its ambitious goals in the final days of the drive.

 The Mercury reported today that items were still being collected over the holiday weekend. The latest tally put the food items collected at 14,711 and the number of bottle of laundry detergent at 669. The goals were 20,000 and 1,000, respectively.

There’s still a chance to participate in this unprecedented collection. The Mercury article states: “Anyone who may have missed the opportunity to drop-off items for our collection effort can still do so Monday as The Mercury offices were closed to the public over the holiday weekend. Our offices are located at 24 N. Hanover St. in Pottstown and the lobby is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.”

Good Friday Prayer Processional to start at 10:30

The Pottstown Clergy Association invites the Pottstown Community to join in a Good Friday prayer processional this Friday at 10:30.

All are invited to gather on the green between Zion’s United Church of Christ and Emmanuel Lutheran Church on Hanover Street. Children and strollers welcome! A “Time for Children” with the younger walkers will begin the processional.

Sometimes known as the “Cross Walk,” this one-mile walk is made so that the community can pray together for the peace and well-being of the community, to lift up those who offer their time and talents, and to bear witness to Christ’s love for the world.

See last year’s wonderful description of the procession written by Rosemary Keane here. Please note that parking is available behind the churches, and in case of rain, the walk will take place inside.

Eastern Slavic music to be presented at St. John’s in Pottstown

 A free concert of sacred hymns and other liturgical music of the Eastern Slavic tradition will be presented by the Westminster Slavic Choir at 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 15, in St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church, 301 Cherry Street, Pottstown, Pa. 

            The Westminster Slavic Choir features students of Westminster Choir College, Princeton, N.J.  The vocalists all are either vocal performance or music education majors at Westminster, a division of Westminster College of the Arts, a residential college of music located in Princeton, N.J.  Westminster is a four-year music college and graduate school that prepares men and women for careers as professional performers and as music leaders in schools, universities, churches, and professional and community music organizations. As Westminster Choir College students, the talented young men and women of the Slavic Choir join their peers in performing with the world’s leading orchestras in venues ranging from the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia to Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York.

The chamber choir is directed by senior vocal performance major Andrew Skitko III, a native of Pottstown, Pa.  Drew also serves as the cantor and music director at The Assumption of The Virgin Mary Byzantine Catholic Church of Trenton, N.J., where the Westminster Slavic Choir performs about once a month.

The concert will include works by composers Bortniansky, Vedel, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Hurko, as well as traditional chant.  Selections will be performed in English as well as Old Slavonic.

Parking is located in the rear of the church.  The church is handicapped-accessible via the ramp located from the parking lot. A free-will offering will be taken.  The concert is expected to last about one hour.

For further information, please contact Andrew Skitko III, choral director at 610-220-3479 or via e-mail at  skitkoa@rider.edu

Happy Hour at Ranieri’s nets support for two worthy causes

More than 60 people attended last Friday’s Positively!Pottstown Happy Hour at Rich Ranieri’s Flooring & Carpeting center at 218 E. High Street. In addition to introducing the fine products and services offered by Rich and his staff for over 30 years in Pottstown, we also wanted to raise awareness of  The Mercury‘s Fill the Media Lab food drive going on now and a fundraising campaign for Lindsey Havyer, a Pottstown High School student headed to Utah for a national DECA competition to showcase her 2011 downtown cleanup project.

Thanks to the generosity of our guests and the generosity of Craig & Sue Bolinger of The Ice House, who donated food to the event, we were able to collect 50 food items, $50 for the Grumpy’s collection/food match, and an anonymous donation for The Pottstown Cluster. We were also able to raise a whopping $400 toward the $1,200 cost for Lindsey’s trip! PDIDA is helping to raise funds for Lindsey and for a scholarship for future students who undertake projects that directly benefit downtown businesses. Contact Sheila Dugan of PDIDA to learn more or to make a donation (610-323-5400).

Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate a local business and to support these local causes. It always astounds me the way that people in Pottstown do not hesitate to help out and then dig a little deeper. It’s awesome.

Positively Pottstown joins “Fill the Media Lab” food drive

The Mercury’s Community Media Lab, Town Square bloggers, and other local newspapers are teaming up for a food drive to help stock the shelves of area food pantries.  With the tight job market, high unemployment, and sky-high gas, heating oil, and healthcare costs, more and more area residents are finding themselves relying on food pantries for the first time ever. 

Here’s how the food drive will work:

The Mercury, Post newspapers, including The Sanatoga Post, and various bloggers are announcing their participation in the food drive to collect at least 20,000 food items by April 7th. See The Mercury article here and The Sanatoga Post article here.  The bloggers can team up with their local pantry and feature them in recurring blog posts. They can also team up with various businesses who want to serve as collection sites.

While the food drive will run until April 7th, we will not be holding onto all the food collected until then because that would mean it’s not on the shelves of the food pantries, getting used up by those who need it now. So… as the food is collected, it will periodically be delivered to the pantry of choice by the blogger or business. Pantries in towns throughout the region will benefit: Pottstown, North Coventry, Boyertown, Royersford, Spring City, Phoenixville, Collegeville, and the Upper Perkiomen Valley. But first we’ll take a picture of what’s collected and send it to The Mercury, where it can be pinned onto an image of the Media Lab. In this way, we will virtually “fill the Media Lab” while filling up local food pantries in reality.

 Positively Pottstown is on board! We’re going to be directing the results of our collection efforts to the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities, commonly known as The Cluster.  The first Pottstown business we’re teaming up with is Grumpy’s, the homemade sandwich and soup shop in The Farmers’ Market. Grumpy’s has generously offered not only to be a collection site, but to match every single food donation that comes in. That’s two for the price of one, all going to The Cluster. 

Positively Pottstown would like to team up with other locations in Pottstown. Let me know if you want to be a collection site, and I will get the word out to readers and Facebook friends.

I should note here that food items are not the only things in demand. We’re also putting a special focus on laundry detergent – it’s expensive and it’s something that tends to drop in priority when children are hungry… but kids want to go to school in fresh-smelling clothes. So please consider picking up an extra bottle of detergent the next time you’re shopping. We’re hoping to collect 1,000 bottles of detergent before all is said and done.

Now, it’s up to you. Positively Pottstown has many readers and Facebook friends outside of Pottstown. Whatever community you live in, please consider finding the food pantry, bloggers, and businesses that are taking part in our Fill the Media Lab initiative and make a donation soon. Or, since this campaign is running through Lent, consider a weekly donation. There’s a tradition of giving things up for Lent and then there’s plain, old-fashioned giving. We all thank you in advance for your support.

The Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities
57 N. Franklin Street, Pottstown, PA 19464
610-970-5995
The Cluster welcomes all cash, food, and clothing donations between the hours of 8:30am-12:00 Monday through Friday. Please come to the back door off the alley.

Grumpy’s Handcarved Sandwiches
300 E. High Street, Pottstown, PA 19464 (in the Farmers’ Market)
610-323-1232
Open Tuesday-Saturday
Tuesday-Wednesday: 11am-6 pm
Thursday-Saturday: 8:30 am-6 pm






All-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner being hosted by Scout Troop 129

Boy Scout Troop 129 will be holding a spaghetti dinner on Saturday, February 25 from 4-7 pm at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 150 N. Hanover Street, Pottstown, PA 19464.

They’ll be serving up spaghetti in sauce, meatballs, salad, beverages, and dessert.

Tickets are $7 for adults; $5 for senior citizens and children ages 6-13; FREE for children age 5 and younger. Tickets will be sold at the door.

That’s an all-you-can-eat meal deal that can’t be beat!

Save the date for 2nd Annual Pottstown Cluster golf tournament

Save The Date!

The 2nd Annual Pottstown Cluster Charity golf tournament will take place on Thursday, May 10th with a noon tee-off!

This event features a shotgun scramble format, putting contest, prizes, lunch, reception & dinner.

Men, women, golfers and duffers are all invited to have a super time while raising funds for disadvantaged children and their families in our community. 
Remember, if you register your foursome under your church, you are eligible to compete for the “Church Challenge Cup” (won last year by Mercy &Truth Synagogue!)

WBZH getting ready to launch Phase 3

Yesterday I had the chance to catch up with Dave Devlin, Program Director for The Buzz, WBZH 1370 AM. The Buzz is the Pottstown area’s only local radio station and it’s poised to launch Phase 3 of their plan to bring back and expand community radio in a big way for the tri-county region.

Phase 1 involved getting the station back on the air just over a year ago, after 1370 went silent for about a year.

Phase 2 involved a name and identity change from WPAZ to WBZH, The Buzz.

And now, Phase 3 –  which I actually can’t specify just yet! – will soon position the station to serve the community in a way that’s totally unique for a radio/TV station anywhere.

On February 7th The Buzz will hold a press conference, including local bloggers, to announce their new campaign, and on February 9th it will swing into action. Stay tuned here and online at wbzh.net or on the radio at 1370 AM. Catch The Buzz!

 

Slovak Christmas carols part of Holy Trinity tradition

The choir at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church at 370 South St. in Pottstown will be singing a selection of Slovak Christmas carols before and during both the 5 PM Christmas Eve Mass and the 10 AM Christmas Day Mass.

Holy Trinity was my mom’s church when she first moved to Pottstown in the 8th grade. She and her parents came to Pottstown from Mt. Carmel when her father got a job with Bethlehem Steel; her mom made children’s clothing in a factory across E. Third Street from St. Al’s.

Growing up, I remember occasionally attending Mass at Holy Trinity – maybe on Christmas Eve, now that I think about it. Like many Eastern European and Russian Orthodox churches, Holy Trinity has a much more ornate interior than that at St. Al’s, our home parish. I was in awe of it as a kid and look forward to feeling that awe again tonight.

Wishing all Positively Pottstown readers a blessed Christmas!

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