The Masonic Children's Home celebrated its 77th annual Youth Appreciation Day with an awards banquet in the Masonic Health Care Center Assembly Room on May 26. All 36 children of the Home were recognized for their many varied activities and accomplishments throughout the year. Several were given special recognition for outstanding achievements in the areas of creativity, scholarship, vocation, athletics, and citizenship.

Special focus was on the two high school graduates, Rebecca Horn and Brandon Smith. Miss Horn will attend the Consolidated School of Business to study computerized office management, and Brandon Smith, who studied business-related courses and lifeguard courses, plans to apply for employment in one of those areas.

Along with their graduation certificates, the two seniors were presented with Bibles by Rev. A. Preston Van Deursen, Director of Pastoral Care and a graduate of the Masonic Children's Home, and with gifts from the Masonic Homes - Patton School Alumni Association representative, Charles Brecht.

Many of the awards were presented to the children by their house parents. Ronald A. Aungst, Sr., R.W. Junior Grand Warden and the Committee on Masonic Homes' liaison to the Masonic Children's Home, presented the trust fund awards to the youth. Norman A. Fox, member of the Committee on Masonic Homes, and his wife, Gertrude, presented personal gifts to the graduating seniors.

In attendance were parents, relatives, and friends; Dr. Allan Thrush, Dr. Donald Donley, Gerald Lorson, and Mark Dolan of the Elizabethtown Area School District; Masonic Children's Home staff and children; and members of the Committee on Masonic Homes.

R.W. Grand Master Robert L. Dluge, Jr. addressed the youth on behalf of the Committee on Masonic Homes. "(Your accomplishment) reinforces that we're doing something right," he said. To the seniors, Bro. Dluge said, "What we hope you take with you is not something tangible but the values you have learned here - the values the Masons of Pennsylvania instill every day. May these values guide you and lead you through life."

The seniors continued the tradition of planting a tree on the grounds of the Masonic Children's Home to commemorate the occasion and leave a living symbol of their ties to the Masonic Homes.