A Summer Worship, Arts and Music Camp, running from July 30 through Aug. 4 at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 82 Kimberly Drive, is now accepting registration for young people from first through twelfth grades.

Activities will be conducted in two divisions: Junior Division, grades 1-8, and Senior Division, grades 9-12. The camp director is Benjamin Hutchens II, director of music at St. Stephen's.

"This marks our first camp," he said this week. "We will strive to offer enjoyable and energizing activities that help children develop a wide range of musical skills, while focusing on choral music of the church, handbells, handchimes, creative movement and drama."

The cost of the camp, held daily from 8:45 a.m. to 2 p.m., is $50. This includes lunch. Both full and partial scholarships are available. Contact Hutchens at www.st-stephens-episcopal.org or 493-5451 for more information.

A closing concert will be held Aug. 4 at 2 p.m. to which the public is invited.

Three clinicians, including Hutchens, will lead the camp. He will be joined by Kenney Potter, director of choral activities at Wingate University, and Heather Williams Potter, an associate conductor with the Charlotte Children's Choir.

Hutchens holds degrees from Furman University, the University of Alabama and UNC-Greensboro.

Aid to Cuba at risk

An advance draft of the second report to President George W. Bush by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba recommends that the U.S. Commerce Department no longer grant licenses for humanitarian aid to the Cuban people that would go through the Cuban Council of Churches.

"The U.S. Government should not dictate who our ecumenical partners can be and how humanitarian aid can be delivered to people who need it," said Joe Moran, regional director of Church World Service with offices here in Durham. Moran worked for 10 years in Latin America before joining Church World Service in 1982.

"Unlike governments, faith-based humanitarian aid agencies do not march to a political drum," he said. "When people anywhere are hurting, and innocent Cubans are hurting, our mandate is to reach out and we do this through reliable partners."

The Cuban Council of Churches has been a CWS partner for 60 years. If the restrictions are implemented, some of CWS's main shipments to the island nation such as blankets, school kits and sewing supplies, and any other non-food medical aid, will be off-limits to the council.

Citizens who want to speak out against this move by the U.S. Government can do so by contacting President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and urging them not to implement the embargo. Advocacy tools can be found at www.churchworldservice.org.

Prayer vigil honors shooting victim

A prayer vigil to honor the life of Pedro Pablo Josue Gasperine Quijano will be held today at 3 p.m. at the intersection of Fairfax Street and London Circle. Quijano was fatally shot on April 25. He was 44 years old.

Prayers will be led by Anna Lee Mosley, lay member of the Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham. All faiths and ages are welcome.

The vigils are coordinated by the Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham, Parents of Murdered Children and Durham Congregations in Action.

Collection to aid Katrina victims

The Durham Convocation, composed of Episcopal churches in Durham and the surrounding area, is collecting food and supplies today and Sunday to fill a semi-trailer that will be driven to Ocean Springs, Miss., for Katrina Disaster Relief.

The churches are delivering their contributions to the collection point at St. Luke's Episcopal, 1737 Hillandale Road. A mission team of 15 volunteers from St. Luke's will go with the food and supplies and will work in Long Beach, Miss., July 22-29.

The Episcopalians are responding to a message from Bob Montgomery, a volunteer who works at the Christus Victor Lutheran Church's disaster relief center in Ocean Springs, Miss.

Montgomery wrote: "The semi-trailer trucks have stopped arriving and the receipt of supplies has reduced to a trickle. We are experiencing daily shortages at the distribution center. Our volunteer workers are processing 150 to 200 families a day, six days a week. We have been told to anticipate the demand for food and supplies to continue."

Wayne Wagoner, a member of St. Luke's vestry, said it's not too late for anyone in the community to help.

"We invite anyone to come by and make a donation if they are so moved. Write a check, and it will be used to buy supplies," he said.

Something new in The Durham News

Taking a view from the pew, Durham News correspondent Flo Johnston will begin an occasional feature next week: an unannounced visit to a weekly service at a Durham church, temple, synagogue or other place of worship.

She will give her opinion on such topics as the kind of service ("stiff upper lip" or "happy-clappy"), what books or visual tools and musical instruments are used, how comfortable the pews are, how welcoming the members seem, how long the sermon is and what the speaker talks about.

No, she won't be responding to "special" invitations to come on a particular day for a "special" event; hers will be an unexpected drop-in to give readers an idea of what happens during a regular service at a randomly selected place of worship.

Remember to look for the first installment in next week's edition.