Volunteers are already hard at work preparing for the the St. Marys Area Christmas Day Dinner, an annual event that has been bringing together area residents to celebrate the holiday for 16 years.
Volunteer Vada Liptak founded the event with her friend and former St. Marys resident Shirley Alexander, and continues to be deeply involved in the project. She said the gathering is sponsored by the community, for the community, for people who would otherwise be alone for Christmas dinner or are unable to prepare dinner on their own.
Helping Hands of St. Marys, the Vietnam Veterans of America Bucktail Chapter 720, and other area residents placed 2,000 wreaths on veterans' graves in St. Marys and Kersey cemeteries on Saturday as part of the Wreaths Across America project, which seeks to honor deceased military members during the holiday season by placing wreaths on their grave sites as a remembrance of their service to the country. Through the generosity of area citizens and donations by several groups, Helping Hands and the Vietnam Veterans came very close to their goal of 2,300 wreaths.
.jpg "Photo by Colin Deppen -
A lone Crab Apple tree shields the ground beneath it from Monday's snowfall.")
