Inaugural Community of Faith prayer breakfast brings faiths together to spiritually support today’s youth.
The planning committee includes (seated from left) Liz Arnold, Hilda Carabes, Harry Leon, Sebu Chatoyan, Steve Pierce, Jean Maluccio. Standing from left are Glenda Carpenter, Doug Sinning, Danette Erickson, Ruth Warner, Jodi Gunski and CV Sheriff’s Captain Dave Silversparre.
By Brandon HENSLEY
There’s a big breakfast coming up next week, one in which community organizers have high hopes for.
The first Crescenta Valley Prayer Breakfast will be held on Tuesday at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, with many guests scheduled to appear and speak. Doors will open at 6:30 a.m., and the program will be from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
The special keynote speaker will be Dr. Chap Clark, a pastor and Fuller Seminary professor. He is author of the books “Hurt” and “Hurt 2.0,” which take a look at problems facing young people. Clark taught at CV High School a decade ago and based his research off of that experience. He will also be speaking Tuesday night at CVHS MacDonald auditorium at 7 p.m. to discuss his research. That engagement is sponsored by the CV Town Council and the CV Youth Council will be in attendance. Paige Eaves, pastor at CV United Methodist Church, said she talks about some of the conclusions Clark has come to about youth.
“Sometimes when I talk to young people, they say, ‘Oh yeah, that’s right on.’ So I’m interested in how the youth council responds to his conclusions.”
The breakfast is an interfaith community event that is dedicated to the youth, as well as an opportunity to bring the community together. Members from churches, synagogues and mosques will gather to spiritually support young people.
“It came to be because of our desire to unify the community, and to bring us all together – Koreans, Asians, Armenians and all the churches,” said CV Town Council member Danette Erickson, who co-chairs the event with councilmember Harry Leon. “One thing we have in common is we all love our kids.”
Crescenta Valley High School Charismatics will perform and student volunteers will support the early morning breakfast. Tickets cost $10, and money raised will go toward planning next year’s breakfast or to CV Town Council scholarships for students, said Erickson.
The event evolved with the help of 23 local organizations and churches. Armenian community leader Arick Gevorkian will emcee and Holy Redeemer Fr. Ed Dover will give the invocation. The breakfast will be a buffet with food donated by local eateries.
“Our church was considering the appropriate short-term and long-term pastoral care response to the community,” said Eaves, who will give the benediction. “It’s been a real joy to work with this group of people. Their only agenda has been, ‘How can we pull our community together, and how can we support our young people better?’”
Erickson said one of the reasons for putting on a community breakfast was because of the success she saw with the ones held in Glendale and La Cañada.
“Harry [Leon] and I have been going to the Glendale and La Cañada breakfasts. Harry keeps saying, ‘Why can’t we do this?’ And I say, ‘Yeah, we can.’ We just never got around to it.”
Well, now they’re getting around to it. Erickson said in order for the prayer breakfast to become a yearly event they will have to pull in dynamic speakers like Clark. But she wants to see it continue.
“After this is over we’re going to have a wrap-up meeting and see if we want to do it again,” she said. “My vote is yes.”
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