Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 26, 1994                   TAG: 9403250087
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By Frances Stebbins
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BRIEFS

A workshop to help children cope with natural and personal disasters is scheduled April 29 and 30 at Williamson Road Church of the Brethren, 3110 Pioneer Road N.W. It is sponsored by Cooperative Disaster Child Care , an ecumenical agency which trains volunteers throughout the nation to go to a disaster site when called.

Cost of the workshop is $40 payable by April 15. To register, call Mary Shepherd at 384-7390 or the church at 366-0291.

Training will include ways to encourage young children to express their fears through play as well as verbally. Volunteers will work in teams at Red Cross shelters and other public assistance sites.

Gleaning volunteers

Volunteers are sought by the Society of St. Andrew Christian community in Bedford County for gleaning fields during the growing season this year.

For the ninth year the society will direct youth and adult groups in collecting commercially unsuitable produce from farms; the food is then transported to collection points for distribution to the needy at soup kitchens and other centers usually in cities.

According to Julie Taylor, new head of Gleaning Network, this year's gleaning will take place in 17 events in states from New York to Louisiana. A team of 5 to 10 volunteers is needed to host each event, she said.

For more information, call (800)-333-4597.

Methodist talks

Representatives of four Methodist bodies - The United Methodist Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church - have met to discuss eventual union.

Meeting in Birmingham, Ala., earlier this month, the planners acknowledged that real union may not come in their lifetimes, but regular meetings are desirable to discuss mutual concerns and to keep the prospect on the agenda of their annual conferences. All the groups are represented by Western Virginia congregations with the latter three predominantly black.

Christian portrayals

At Beth-Horon United Methodist Church on Virginia 130 at Natural Bridge Station portrayals of two Christian characters will be featured Sunday.

Ken Steward of Takoma Park, Md., will portray the apostle Peter at the 11 a.m. service. That night at 7 he will recreate Robert Strawbridge, an 18th century early Methodist who built the first denominational meeting house and performed the first baptism and communion service for Methodists in America.

Steward has attended Wesley Theological Seminary but now is a graphic designer. He has been presenting the impersonations for 10 years.

A potluck lunch will follow the morning service.