Golf Tournament to raise funds for Infant and Child Loss Center

By Cathi Higgins
Posted: September 29, 2008

University of Maryland women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese, a new mother of twin boys, is the honorary chairwoman of the 18th annual Verizon Wireless-SIDS Golf Invitational, a fundraiser for the Center for Infant & Child Loss, in Baltimore. The event is scheduled for Oct. 6 at Turf Valley Resort, in Ellicott City.

As coach Brenda Frese from the University of Maryland women’s basketball team gears up for another successful season, she’s also supporting a cause that’s grown even closer to her heart. The new mother of healthy twin boys is working to help parents learn about and cope with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome as the honorary chair of the 18th annual Verizon Wireless-SIDS Golf Invitational. The tournament, which raises much-needed funds for the Center for Infant & Child Loss at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, takes place Oct. 6 at Turf Valley Resort, in Ellicott City.

“Supporting this tournament was a no-brainer for me,” says Frese, who has become personally familiar with the anxieties any new mother feels. “As a parent, you wake up every morning wondering if everything is OK. Are they breathing? Are they awake? I feel it’s critical for me to support this center and do all I can to relay valuable information to parents on how to keep their children safe.”

The Center for Infant & Child Loss works to raise awareness of SIDS and other causes of sudden child death, and provides free grief counseling to help families cope with the loss of a child. The center relies heavily on the golf tournament to fund its education and support programs for Maryland parents. Last year, more than 260 golfers participated and the tournament raised $130,000.

“This annual tournament enables the center to fulfill its mission of providing families with the compassionate services needed to cope with their loss, so that they can continue to parent, work and be a contributing member of the community,” said Donna C. Becker, the director of the center.

Marylander Chuck Dohrman founded the tournament in 1991 in memory of his son, Zachary, who died of SIDS that year at just 10 weeks of age. Dohrman will be at the golf tournament this year, as he has been every year. He attends with his wife, Terre, and his two sons, Jacob, 14, and Luke, 16. The Center for Infant & Child Loss was critical to the family’s recovery from Zachary’s death, Dohrman recalls.

“The center helps you work through your grief properly,” he said. “Doing this golf tournament has helped me through the grief process, too. Dads often don’t grieve as well. I really hope this golf tournament gives the participating fathers a way to feel they’re helping others in the same situation. That’s what it did for me.”

The Center for Infant & Child Loss was founded in 1975 to support Marylanders who have lost a child, up to age 16, suddenly and unexpectedly. All services are offered at no cost.

Those services include bereavement counseling for the families, assisting the families in communicating with the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and leveraging public resources to get each family the support it needs.

The center has evolved to add a strong educational component to prevent sudden deaths of children. Those programs include the Safe and Healthy Baby Campaign, which works to remind parents how infants can sleep safely — on their backs — and encourages parents to raise their children free of drugs and alcohol. The center also has a program called the Empty Arms Project, which provides stuffed bears to each newly bereaved family leaving emergency rooms throughout Maryland. Each bear wears a ribbon imprinted with the center’s toll-free number and a card with coping suggestions. The center also facilitates research into areas of risk and potential causes of sudden infant and child death, supporting studies on issues such as trends in SIDS diagnosis.

The golf event begins with a shotgun start at 11 a.m. An evening reception will follow with a live auction, smooth jazz music, and emxee Alex Cortright of radio station WRNR-FM 103.1 in Annapolis.

For more information on the tournament, or to register, donate or pledge a sponsorship, call 410-706-3091, or 800-808-7437, or go to www.infantandchildloss.org, or call John Johnson of Verizon Wireless at 240-568-1429 or e-mail john.h.johnson@verizonwireless.com.

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Grave Mistakes to premiere Oct. 21

By Cathi Higgins
Posted: September 29, 2008

Ryan Thomas, left, plays a grave robber and John Beck portrays the owner of Cottage Antiques in the new motion picture, “Grave Mistakes,” shot in Ellicott City by director Chris LaMartina.

Visitors to Main Street during the last week of July might have thought that Cottages Antiques was doing some renovations. The windows were wrapped in heavy black plastic and ‘Wet Paint’ signs were prominently displayed. The real reason for the black plastic was to control the light for filming of “Grave Mistakes,” the third feature film by director Chris LaMartina. The ‘Wet Paint’ signs were only to discourage curious on-lookers while filming took place.

“Grave Mistakes” is an anthology horror film comprised of four separate films about monsters, vampires, spirits and other creepy stuff. It’s all done with a sense of fun but it is recommended that you do not see it alone. The movie premieres Oct. 21 at the Charles Theater, in Baltimore. It is the perfect film to kick off the Halloween season.

When LaMartina finished filming the segments, he was looking for a way to introduce and connect all the individual films. Remembering that one of his actors, Lee Doll, worked at Cottage Antiques, he approached owners Joan Malpas and Blair Jett about filming the wrap-around segment there. They readily said “yes,” thinking it would attract visitors to Historic Ellicott City.

Co-screen writers and co-producers Jimmy George and Chris LaMartina fashioned a script about the owner of an antique store doing business with a grave robber. Ryan Thomas was selected to play the grave robber but the antique shopkeeper had to have a Vincent Price persona. Lee Doll suggested long time Main Street resident John Beck for the role. John works part-time at Main Street shops Yuppy Puppy and Mumbles & Squeaks. John surprisingly passed his audition with flying colors since he had no previous acting experience.

It took more than 20 hours to film what became a twenty minute film segment. John found the whole process enjoyable but tiring. “I would say the same lines over and over again while they changed the camera positions. I’d gladly do it all over again. Everyone was a pleasure to work with”. Will John be leading the Ellicott City Ghost Tours next?

Local living legend, actor George Stover, also stars in “Grave Mistakes.” For more information on the motion picture, go to www.myspace.com/gravemistakesmovie.

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Brick Sale at Dunloggin Middle School

By Cathi Higgins
Posted: September 25, 2008

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St. John’s Episcopal Church’s Blessing of the Animals

By Cathi Higgins
Posted: September 25, 2008

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The Orthodox Church of St. Matthew presents its Multi-Cultural Fall Festival

By Cathi Higgins
Posted: September 23, 2008

The Orthodox Church of St. Matthew is planning its inaugural Multi-Cultural Fall Festival Oct. 4 and 5 at the Kings Contrivance Interfaith Center and invites the public to experience and share a variety of cultures through food, music and family fun.

The event will transform the Kings’ Contrivance Interfaith Center parking area into an “Old World” venue where you can enjoy home-made Greek, Russian, Romanian, Mexican, and Lebanese foods; an extensive selection of ethnic desserts; a wine and beer garden; live hourly entertainment; children’s activity area; silent auction; hand-made crafts; icon painting demonstrations and escorted church tours.

Several Ellicott City neighbors are members of the church and will be participating in the event. The Slavic Foods team is organized by Anastasia Borichevsky with help from Natasha Jones; John, Deven and Robin Zahor; Sharon Cross; and Stan and Carol Yunkunis. They are cooking borsch (traditional Russian soup), golubtsi (cabbage rolls stuffed with ground meat), and pirozhki (dough filled with beef, onion, and hardboiled egg).

Dana Potts oversees both the Romanian Foods as well as desserts and is getting help making Romanian nut rolls, nut and poppy seed rolls, and Slavic nut rolls from Robin Zahor and Sharon Cross. Dana is also making Sarmale (Romanian cabbage rolls).

Consisting of 150 families, St. Matthew is a parish of the Orthodox Church of America, the first and only Orthodox Church in Columbia and is distinguished by its diverse representation of ethnic backgrounds. Although the parish has been in existence since 1988, it has met in various Columbia Village Centers until its permanent home in the King’s Contrivance Village Center was completed in February 2007.

For more information about the Orthodox Church of St. Matthew, go to www.stmatthewoca.org or call 410-381-2284.

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