Laurels & lances: Fires, colds and blood
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Laurel: To rising from the ashes. St. Vladimir Ukrainian Catholic Church in Arnold was decimated by fire Dec. 4, 2021. The 74-year-old building endured more than $4 million in damage.
It is the kind of event that could kill a parish. In truth, many a house of worship has been done in by far less.
But one year later, St. Vladimir’s congregation showed that a church isn’t the building that houses it. The church is the people who call it a home.
The day was marked by a Divine Liturgy celebrated in the church’s social hall. The congregation has a will to rebuild. They plan to reuse the beautiful pieces saved from their church — including Belgian-made stained-glass windows, statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, the baptismal font, the original pulpit and a depiction of St. Vladimir.
They will also build a new home more in keeping with the church’s current needs, rather than room for 400 or so.
The St. Vladimir’s congregation can be a model for the Trinity United Methodist church in Stahlstown, which was the site of a fire on Monday. The sanctuary will need “extensive repairs,” but there were no injuries.
“We will be back,” Pastor Christine Doren said.
Lance: To empty store shelves. Over the course of the pandemic, we all got used to seeing spaces where the thing you are seeking is supposed to be but just isn’t. Supply chain problems were to blame early on.
Now the issue is one of supply and demand. Some stores are struggling to keep stocked with over-the-counter medication as a mix of colds, flu, RSV and, yes, covid hits people hard.
The abundance of sick people is hurting hospitals, too, especially in pediatric wards. OTC products can sometimes head off that more serious response, so it can be all the more troublesome to not see the bottle you need when you go to the store.
Laurel: To a precious gift. If you are able to give blood, please do.
“Now we’re only getting about a third of the units of blood that we need for the hospitals,” said Vitalant Pittsburgh communications manager Kristen Lane. “During the winter holidays, starting the day before Thanksgiving through early January, we know people do not have the chance to go out and donate as often as they do at other times of the year.”
Vitalant conducted a blood drive at the University of Pittsburgh’s Greensburg campus last week. In five hours, they collected blood from 19 people.
Blood is needed for surgeries, accidents and other medical situations. It is hard to imagine a gift that would be more appreciated this holiday season.
If you can, roll up your sleeve.