Yesterday marked the first ever St. Patrick’s Day celebration at Birmingham Presbyterian Church. Approximately 40 people attended the event, which included church and community members.
“The idea came out of the ministry support team, which is a group of six individuals that have been working with me all along. We try to take a look at different programs that we can plan that would not only be for the church but community members could come also,” said Kim Witkovsky, coordinator of ministries.
The celebration was filled with cultural food, Irish music, fun and fellowship. All of those in attendance got a chance to talk with each other and listen to Birmingham resident Susie Winters play the violin.
“I think they planned the meal around what St. Patrick’s Day would be. They tried to do the menu to kind of make it the cultural experience of what you’d might eat if you were in Ireland,” said Witkovsky.
Many women of the church planned the event at least a month in advance. They divided the tasks among themselves as to who would bring certain foods and who would clean up after the meal.
“In addition to try to include the community, in which we did have a few people, it did seem to bring families together too,” said Witkovsky. “In these busy times in society, it’s hard for families to get together at their own house to eat, let alone do something special, so this was a time for families to celebrate as well.”
The St. Patrick’s Day meal was one of the first in a series of gatherings to help invigorate the current members of the church and to hopefully bring in prospective members.
“The main thing was we’re trying to have at least one event each month that is a community event that would be open to anyone, something that’s not necessarily just on a Sunday morning so people don’t feel like they have to be connected just by coming to worship on Sunday morning, that there are other times during the week and other events that they can be a part of our fellowship without having to initially come into worship,” said Witkovsky.
During the Easter season the church has scheduled numerous activities including a Lenten study on Wednesday evenings in which a different part of holy week is the focus. Also, the men of the church prepare a breakfast on Palm Sunday.
Anyone interested in contacting the church for more information should call 684-3120 or write to 4065 Market St., Birmingham, PA, 16686.
