"What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight; build it anyway."
--Mother Teresa
EAR TO THE GROUND
A DINNER AND live auction benefiting youth programs at Brainerd United Methodist Church on Brainerd Road will be at 6 p.m. Sept. 24 at the church. The cost is $25 per person.
Money earned is earmarked for the church's youth mission trips and the preschool special-needs program, said event spokeswoman Emily Nasca.
Carrabba's is catering this first-time event, Nasca said. Tickets must be purchased before Sept. 19.
"Our youth group of about 60 children just returned from an amazing mission trip to Jamaica where they spent over a week working at orphanages, mental hospitals, rebuilding a church and handing out toiletry kits to families in need," Nasca said. "They could not believe the needs of this area and can't wait a year to return."
The preschool at the church provides free parent workshops every month with free child care and free dinner, she said.
"We feel everyone should be able to afford quality child care, so this event will assist us with keeping our tuition low but allow us to have plenty of teachers in the classrooms," Nasca said.
The live auction will include gift cards to area restaurants and businesses, she said.
"We hope to have 250 in attendance. This will be a night filled with fun as our youth also will be providing skits for us during auction breaks."
For information, call 698-2030.
TOASTS
AREA YOUNGSTERS celebrated their participation in Chattanooga Public Library's "One World, Many Stories" summer reading program with a party at First Tennessee Pavilion.
According to library spokeswoman Andria Davis, nearly 1,300 young readers were awarded certificates of achievement.
"All program completers were eligible to enter a prize drawing," Smith said. "Giveaways included books, toys, and free attraction tickets, as well as grand prizes -- two free passes to Dollywood and a $125 Toys R Us gift card. Five winners were drawn every five minutes. A total of 120 prizes were awarded."
The children's summer reading program registered 5,196 young readers and listeners, Smith said.
"Children who met their reading or listening goals reported 161,380 books read during the eight-week program. To reward readers, area merchants and businesses donated discount attraction tickets, free food coupons and other prizes totaling over $225,000," she said.
Lee Hope, the public library's children's and young adult services coordinator said 71 volunteers helped make the event a success.
HEARD ON THE TOWN
SILVERDALE BAPTIST Academy 2011 graduate Anna Georgia Ioannidis had much of her family in tow when she presented her senior piano recital recently at Silverdale Baptist Academy.
It was a rare occasion for the young woman because her maternal grandparents, Nikos and Georgia Zegas, made the trip to Chattanooga from their home in Thessaloniki, Greece, located on the Agean Sea, said Anna's piano teacher Charlynne Fry.
"[They] were present for several events in support of their granddaughter," Fry said. "It had been 10 years since the Zegas couple had visited the United States," she said. "They enjoyed visiting Bluff View, the Aquarium, and other sights, but their favorite place was eating and shopping at Cracker Barrell."
Anna was the 2011 class valedictorian at Silverdale Baptist Academy. She served as captain of the soccer team, was named one of four Chattanooga Young Women of Distinction and received superior ratings in piano for eight years from the Chattanooga Music Teacher Association.
"Anna has traveled to various parts of the world on mission trips and has been to Greece where she received a medical internship from a major hospital there because of her interest in a possible medical career," Fry said.
Anna's paternal grandparents Symeon and Anna Ioannidis, formerly of Greece, now living in Ooltewah, also were present, as were Anna's parents Tosas and Margarita Ioannidis. Also attending were Popi Aslanidou Vaszuez, a long-time friend from Athens, Greece, now of Harrison, and Anna's brother, Alexander Ioannidis.
Anna is a freshman at Belmont University in Nashville majoring in biology and minoring in music and Spanish.
Contact Karen Nazor Hill at khill@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/karen nazorhill.