HOLLY NADLER

508-274-2329

(hollynadler@gmail.com)

There’s so much to report this week, I’ve been sitting at my typewriter sobbing for the past 10 minutes, not knowing where to start.

How ’bout this: Last weekend, I caught up with old buddies, Susie Rheault and Gil Williams of Oak Bluffs and Lincoln. Susie’s been working for the Clinton Foundation, and the last visit to East Africa bounced the couple over to Tanzania. Somehow they wound up off the beaten track that leads up to Mt. Kilimanjaro, instead wending their way to a tiny village called Nshupu. Once there, they discovered a small concrete building housing the Precious Orphans Children’s Home. Nine orphans reside there, aged five through eight. A former primary school teacher named William Modest teaches, houses and parents the kids, having committed himself to helping others after watching his mother die of AIDS. He was 15 at the time; all of his nine charges are HIV-negative but their parents were killed by the ravaging disease.

Susie and Gil noticed the children slept in two sets of bunk beds which meant four in one set, five in another. They asked if they could buy beds for the orphans. Mr. Modest told them with a certain amount of rue, “The larger problem is, we’re going to run out of food in five days.”

Susie and Gil are nothing if not proactive. They hopped in a car with Mr. Modest and rounded up enough provisions to last for a number of weeks. Almost on the spot they founded a 501(c)3 charity in association with Worldview Education and Care. They’re now actively fund-raising and donations are exquisitely cost-effective; for instance, $100 annually will buy breakfast, lunch or dinner for all nine children for a month! And $400 will provide medical exams and immunizations for the Precious Nine for a year. Just $35 will purchase a desk. If you’ve got some big bucks to spend, $2,500 annually will pay the salaries for the director and matron, now working as volunteers.

Please do this after you put down this newspaper and before you pack up fresh-picked tomatoes-and-tuna sandwiches on ciabatta rolls and run to the beach: See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d7cxXGcc4U. This will either get you into the Pentagon war room or, ideally, you’ll see eight of the nine orphans alongside the saintly Mr. Modest singing “I love you so, so much Madame Susie, I love you so, so much Mista Gilly,” You are going to fall in love with these young, adorable Tanzanians; I guarantee it. Then if you want to send in a check right away, mail it to Worldview Education and Care, c/o Susie Rheault and Gil Williams, 1 Oak Meadow Rd., Lincoln, MA 01773. They’ll mail you a receipt for your tax records.

Okay, on to other matters: A memorial service will be held for Dorothy Barker, who died on Feb. 21 at the age of 100. The service will take place on Sunday, July 17, at the West Tisbury Congregation Church.

At Trinity Episcopalian in O.B., the next two Sunday services, starting at 9 a.m., will be led by Rev. Mark Bozuth-Jones from Trinity Wall Street, wow!

On Thursday, July 21, a benefit spaghetti dinner and silent auction will raise funds for Lisa Ben David Scannell, who was recently injured in a riding accident. The dinner will be hosted by Linda Jean’s owner, Mark Hanover, though the fine dining will take place at the P.A. Club starting at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 and will be available at the door. For more information, call Susan Wilson at 693-4563 in the fashionable 508 area code.

There’s too much! I’ve started to get weepy again!! Okay, two hankies later . . . Our beloved Jessica Harris is finally back in her pink-shuttered cottage in O.B. and she’ll be speaking and signing her new book, High on the Hog, reviewed by yours truly in this paper some months ago (in a nutshell, the book is awesome!) at the Bunch of Grapes on Wednesday, July 20, at 7 p.m.

Here are the events scheduled at the Tabernacle for the next couple of weeks.

Sunday Worship Service is every Sunday at 9:30 a.m. in the Tabernacle. On Sunday, July 17 the guest preacher is Rev. Dr. Jim Kidd, retired pastor from Asylum UCC Church in Hartford, Conn. Then on Sunday, July 24, the guest preacher is Rev. Gary Shaw, pastor of the Carter Memorial UMC, Needham.

Family Movie Nights also continue at the Tabernacle: Monday, July 18 at 7 p.m. is Babe; Monday, July 25 is The Water Horse; Monday, August 1 is Shrek 2.

Community Sings happen every Wednesday evening at 8 p.m.

Look out too for special Tabernacle events: Tomorrow, Saturday, July 16, from 9 a.m. to 1p.m. is the annual Tabernacle Flea Market. In the evening on Saturday, July 16 at 8 p.m., is a concert, bass /baritone Ron Williams, accompanied by piano. Tickets are $15.

Bettye Baker, recovering after knee surgery, will be back to take over her special summer generalship of the Oak Bluffs town column. So, Good Night and Good Luck — but don’t think you’ve heard the last from me. Love you all! Holly. (I’m off to Tanzania to hug those kids and to teach them how to play Frisbee. Then maybe they can teach my dog!)