Many Delaware County children lack the online access or supervision at home that would enable them to attend online school. But LoftySpot, which provides communities with virtual platforms, and the nonprofit Partners for Sacred Places, have collaborated to address this problem by creating “Community Learning Hubs in Sacred Places,” a supervised online learning environment that serves students from kindergarten-age through sixth grade. With funding from The Foundation for Delaware County and The Community’s Foundation, the groups have so far been able to provide two learning hubs, enabling 30 children to successfully attend online school who otherwise couldn’t. However, without further funding, the program, which has a weekly operating cost of between $1,000 and $1,500 per week, will have to close at the end of January. The churches hosting the learning hubs — Life in Christ Ministries, in Chester, and Faith-Immanuel Lutheran Church, in East Lansdowne — are seeking funds to enable the program to stay open.

The program gives students the “opportunity to learn in a safe, supervised environment,” says Bishop Dickie Robbins, of Life In Christ Ministries. Barbara Yarsiah, whose children are in the program, says the learning hub has enabled her kids to develop new relationships and stay on track with their assignments. She adds that being able to go to work every day knowing her child was in a supervised learning environment has made the pandemic more bearable. If you want to support the program, make a check payable to “Life in Christ Ministries” (put “Learning Hub” in the memo line), and mail it to Life in Christ Ministries, 3012 West Third Street, Chester, PA 19013.

Alternatively, make a check payable to “Faith-Immanuel Lutheran Church” and mail it to Faith-Immanuel Lutheran Church, 65 Penn Blvd., East Lansdowne, PA 19050. For more information, contact Jean Steinke at jean@loftyspot.com or 443-801-6946.

Photo: Community Learning Hubs in Sacred Spaces has given 30 students access to the internet for online school this year. The program is facing closure due to lack of funds. Photo: Moses Suah-Dennis

To express their appreciation for the hard work of teachers in the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District during COVID-19, the Swarthmore Trailblazers — a 4H club focused on community service, citizenship, and a love of nature — assembled “gratitude bags” for district teachers. Two senior members, Amanda Anckaitis and Jenna Micklin, organized the project. Club members wrote letters of appreciation to their former and current teachers and included them with treats in the bags, which were distributed to area schools.

“We wanted to make sure the hard work and dedication of our teachers was appreciated,” Anckaitis said.

Jenna Micklin (left) and Amanda Anckaitis organized a “gratitude bag” project for teachers. Photo: Cindy Burks

Each month, approximately 25 mothers and newborn children receive medical care at the Chester branch of ChesPenn Health Services, which receives funds from the federal government to help provide primary care in underserved areas. Many of these families are in need, not only of medical care, but also of basic supplies for the newborns, from diapers to clothing. To respond to these needs, the Social Action Committee of Congregation Beth Israel of Media initiated a new project this year, “A Better Start for Babies,” which it has just successfully wrapped up.

The committee solicited donations from the Beth Israel community in 11 categories of essential items for babies. Committee member Judy Kinman led the effort, which brought in 30 full sets of donated items, each set valued at over $100. Kinman and fellow committee members Wendy Waterston and Carol Briselli packaged the items into individual gift bags, which were transported to the Chester ChesPenn clinic location for distribution before Christmas. The Social Action Committee hopes to repeat this drive in the future.

Photo: Judy Kinman assembles baby gift packages at Congregation Beth Israel of Media. Photo: John Greenstine

Masks On

I made the snowperson with the mask on.
It was the morning after the big storm.
The idea of the snowperson wearing a COVID mask
came to me as I was making it, perhaps a message
from the snowstorm, a natural warning.
I sent it to you because it seemed right
to capture the meltaway truth in a meltless image.
Survival is everything. Masks on!

– Craig Williamson

Swarthmore Note: The above is a small poem in 4-beat lines with in-line and cross-line alliteration that binds the lines together as a poem. I didn’t consciously try to do it as a poem, but after spending 15 years translating the whole of Old English poetry (31,000 lines!), I do this sort of thing now without thinking. It may seem like a lot for a little poem on the snowperson, but there are small subject poems like this in Old English as well. – C.W.

Amelia Eisch and her family celebrated the secular winter holiday Festivus on December 23. “It’s noncommercial. That’s one of the reasons we like it,” she says. Eisch explains that, although popularized on the TV show “Seinfeld” in 1997, the holiday actually was created by writer Daniel O’Keefe in the 1960s. A plain aluminum Festivus Pole and the Airing of the Grievances are two important features of celebration. “Grievances can be things you’re unhappy about in the world, or things you’re unhappy about in your private life,” Eisch explains. “It’s important to get the big ones out, but you also have permission to be petty.”

This year, Eisch’s family gathered around the pole in their Yale Avenue yard and shared some grievances out loud, writing or drawing others on index cards and hanging them on the pole. She says her son drew “a great coronavirus. You know, the spikes.”

Then they burned the cards. “We stood together as a family and watched our grievances go up in flames.” Eisch emphasizes that they are careful with the fire. “We stamped out our burnt grievances with our muddy boots,” she reports, adding that they always donate to the Swarthmore fire department.

“Our simple, sad Festivus pole just sits on our front yard,” Eisch reports. “It leaves us with the reminder to let things go.”

Photo: Amelia Eisch