Church seeks ‘organ donors’

Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007

Halfway through the second verse of the first hymn, ‘‘Rejoice, Rejoice Believers,” on the first Sunday of Advent last December, the church’s 35-year-old organ sounded its last note.

‘‘I’m playing away, and my hands are on the keys, and there was no sound,” said Lynn Schramm, the church’s minister of music, said in a statement, recalling the organ’s last moments. ‘‘I stood up and said, ‘We’ll finish the rest of the service on the piano.’

St. Andrew’s has been finishing services on the piano ever since.

Mice have been blamed for the organ’s problems, and the old organ has been deemed beyond repair. Replacements for its broken parts are no longer manufactured.

Schramm is hoping to raise $77,000 for a new instrument. Schramm explains the high price tag by saying she is looking to the future. Experienced church music directors are a ‘‘dying breed” and increasingly have their pick of churches at which to serve. ‘‘If you want to have a good music program, you have to provide the instrument,” Schramm said, and added that she won’t be doing her job forever. ‘‘If we want to attract a quality music director, we’ve got to provide them with something that will make them want to come here.”

The organ that no longer works holds a special place in the church and the church’s mission, according to Schramm. The Roger Three Manual organ was donated to St. Andrew’s in the early 1990s by retired Col. Henry Sanford of Breton Bay, with the stipulation that the community as well as the church benefit from the bequest. Sanford asked that the church work to become a venue to feature all kinds of music. This led to the annual Sanford Concert Series, which is about to start its ninth year of hosting concerts at church. ‘‘He gave us a mission to open up the church and organ to the greater community,” Schramm said.

It is a mission that St. Andrew’s hopes to continue. So, while a new organ will benefit the congregation at St. Andrew’s, it will also benefit the community as a whole, Schramm said. Therefore, the church is looking to the community for help.

The congregation will be hosting its annual Fall Fest craft sale on Oct. 20 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Schramm is hoping to raise a significant percentage of the organ replacement fund at that time.

‘‘Fall Fest has become an annual event on our church calendar and one that is increasingly popular with those folk in the community who are looking for unique and affordable home-crafted gifts for the holidays,” said the Rev. Paula Robinson, the church’s rector. ‘‘This year our shoppers will not only find fabulous bargains, but have the opportunity to help us continue outreach to the wider community and also to donate to our organ fund. Donations will not only enable our congregation to ‘make a joyful noise unto the Lord’ but will support the diversity of music brought to the community through The Sanford Series.”

In addition to the woodcrafts, gift baskets, Christmas ornaments, Halloween decorations, toys, baked goods, knitted items and hot food being offered at this year’s fundraiser, the church’s junior vestry will also be raffling off a small four-wheel off-road vehicle that was donated by a church member. Proceeds from the raffle will go directly to the organ fund.

Even without its Sanford organ, the Sanford Concert Series will present its season opener Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m. with a concert by the U.S. Navy Country Current, a country-bluegrass group that is the Navy’s premier country music ensemble. The seven-member group features an acoustic bluegrass quintet.

All of the concerts in the Sanford series are presented in the church. To make reservations or to learn more about series performers, visit www.sanfordconcertseries.com or call Lyn Schramm at 301-862-9541. The Sanford Concert Series is sponsored in part by the St. Mary’s County Arts Council.

Lighthouse tours offered during Spirits event

An opportunity to tour the lighthouse at Point Lookout will be offered this year during the Spirits of Point Lookout event on Oct. 26 and 27 from 7 to 10 p.m. each night at Point Lookout State Park. While the annual event is being presented by Kiwanis of St. Mary’s County, the lighthouse tours are sponsored by the Point Lookout Lighthouse Preservation Society, according to Robert Hall, president of the group. Each is a separately ticketed event. The new lighthouse tour will include a ride in a shuttle van to and from the lighthouse. The lighthouse tours will depart every 20 minutes and will include a guided tour through the lighthouse.

For more information on the Spirits of Point event, visit spiritsof pointlookout.com or www.stmaryskiwanis.org.

Christmas in April extends application deadline

Organizers of Christmas in April-St. Mary’s County have announced that they are extending the deadline to apply for help with free home repairs to Nov. 1.

Christmas in April-St. Mary’s is a volunteer organization that, in partnership with the community, rehabilitates the homes of low-income homeowners, particularly the elderly and disabled, so that they may live in warmth, safety and independence.

Low-income, elderly or disabled homeowners living in St. Mary’s County who own a home in need of repairs are encouraged to contact Christmas in April at 301-863-2905 for a free application.

Oyster Festival topsweekend events

Over the past 41 years, the St. Mary’s County Oyster Festival has grown to become one of the Eastern Seaboard’s leading folk festivals, attracting thousands of visitors from across the country. This year’s festival will be held Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 20 and 21, rain or shine, at the St. Mary’s County fairgrounds, located two miles south of Leonardtown. The festival showcases the opening of the oyster season on the Chesapeake and celebrates the tradition of men and women making their living working the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

The festival also hosts two national competitions — the National Oyster Shucking Championship and National Oyster Cook-Off. The shucking contest will be held over both days of the festival. Champions from over 11 states compete with local tidewater oyster shuckers vying for cash prizes and the right to be crowned the U.S. champion and represent the United States in the international competition held in Galway, Ireland. The National Oyster Cook-Off will be held on Saturday and features nine finalists from across the country who compete for cash prizes in four fresh oyster cooking categories. The top winners in each category are then judged for the best overall recipe and the grand prizewinner is selected. Visitors to the competition will have an opportunity to ‘‘taste-test” contestants’ dishes. Also, returning cookoff winners and renowned chefs will be on hand to demonstrate and prepare their favorite oyster dishes.

The festival, begun and sponsored by the Rotary Club of Lexington Park, promotes the bounties of St. Mary’s County while raising funds for the charitable organizations that participate. To that end, Southern Maryland food specialties are prepared and served by members of more than 14 local charities, offering oysters fried, scalded, grilled, stewed, in savory sauces and raw. There will also be plenty of St. Mary’s County stuffed ham sandwiches as well as an array of soups, sandwiches, seafood, barbecue, desserts, beverages and more.

The festival will feature continuous live entertainment, free shucking lessons, kids rides, carnival games, as well as entertaining and educational exhibits sponsored by county, state and private community organizations. Festival grounds will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $5 for adults and free for children 12 and younger. Group discounts are also available. Call 301-863-5015 or visit www.usoysterfest.com.

Hungry Team seeksdonations for silent auction

Mt. Zion United Methodist Church’s Hungry Team is currently seeking donations for its 2007 silent auction fundraiser to be held during the church’s annual dinner theater slated for Nov. 2 and 3.

More than 300 people are expected to attend this year’s dinner theater and auction. The names of individuals and companies donating to the auction will be included on the bid list that will be handed out to each bidder and will also be placed on each dinner table. All donations are tax deductible.

The Hungry Team had been helping families in the community through difficult times for more than 15 years through its food pantry at Mt. Zion as well as helping those in need pay critical utility bills. The Hungry Team works closely with other similar organizations such as area churches, HOPE, social services and area shelters. Call 301-884-4132 or Johnnie Sawyer, Hungry Team coordinator, at 301-884-7407.

College to presentexperimental films

Filmmaker, professor of film and media studies and independent video store owner Roger Warren Beebe will screen ‘‘New Maps of the New World,” a series of eight experimental short films, on Monday, Oct. 22, at 8 p.m. in Cole Cinema on the St. Mary’s College of Maryland campus. The films range in running time from two to 15 minutes and are presented in Super 8, 16 mm and digital video formats. The event is free and open to the public.

The films included tackle such disparate subjects as a disused gas station, McDonald’s restaurants, a strip mall and dance. For Beebe, who has screened his films around the globe from the Museum of Modern Art in New York City to the McMurdo Station in Antarctica, New Maps films engage with ‘‘pressing issues in our everyday lives,” like suburban sprawl, capitalism, and our thinking about gender and race. Visit www.clas.ufl.edu⁄users⁄rogerbb⁄films⁄newmapstour⁄NEWMAPSrelease.htm, or call Mark Rhoda at 240-895-4231.

E-mail items to scraton@somdnews.com.