Story by Andrew S. Lay
Earlier this year, 20 Highland View Academy (HVA) juniors and seniors joined more than 100 academy students from across the Chesapeake Conference to participate in the second annual Capital Model United Nations (Model UN), held at Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Md. The high schoolers could not wait to engage fellow students on important and current human rights issues.
About four years ago, Kyle Hardinge, a member of Chesapeake Conference’s Spencerville church in Silver Spring, Md., was under the care of nurses and staff at a local hospital after undergoing heart surgery. Today he, with the aid of his 3-D printer, is returning the care.
Story by Andre Hastick
As the COVID-19 outbreak quickly emerged, the Chesapeake Adventist Community Services (ACS) Department mobilized trained volunteers and partnered with the American Red Cross, state organizations and local churches to provide crisis care to communities across the Chesapeake territory.
Through these partnerships, Chesapeake ACS established the following: a network of 16 church-based food pantries; an emotional and spiritual care hotline; and four personal protective equipment (PPE) donation centers, in collaboration with the Maryland Emergency Management Agency.
Story by Ricardo Bacchus
“I don’t really consider myself an artist, but I do enjoy dabbling in what I call ‘art therapy,’” says Kandace Zollman, the pastor for nurture and visitation at Chesapeake Conference’s Spencerville church in Silver Spring, Md.
She recently took this “art therapy” to a whole new level. Each Sabbath since social distancing started due to the coronavirus, she has put her talents to work by “chalking” God’s love on her driveway.
“I really wanted to send some kind of message of hope to the people around me. I decided that the message that I left would be the words of God Himself to people who are struggling,” she says.
Story by V. Michelle Bernard
Swiffer, an approximately 5-year-old Great Pyrenees/Labrador/mix, and his owner, Sarah Porter, a member at Chesapeake Conference’s New Hope church in Fulton, Md., have provided pet therapy to medical staff with Pets on Wheels since 2018. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, their visits to local hospitals stopped.