Today's Features

Pediatric strokes are extremely rare. When Lancaster High School student Alyssa Garris suffered a stroke after cleft lip and palate surgery in June 2010, the doctors on her case had a hard time giving her parents a proper prognosis.

They couldn’t even tell Mika and Mark Garris what the future held for their daughter.
“It was a really, really tough thing to hear,” Mika said. “We go in expecting a routine surgery and plan to be going home in two or three days, and it turned out she didn’t come home for seven weeks.”

Barbara Westbrook
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

“Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)

This familiar scripture – known as the “great commission” – was given by Jesus to his disciples. He wanted them to devote their lives to teaching His Gospel to those who would accept and follow Him.

A recent email from an old friend reminded me of a trip I took in the summer of 1991. It was a pilgrimage to see the oldest trees on Earth.

That journey required flying across the continent and then traveling winding, steep, scary roads high into the White Mountains of California’s Eastern Sierras. Finally reaching the part of Inyo National Forest known as the Ancient Bristlecone Forest was like arriving on a moonscape.

The Lancaster arts scene is putting its collective talents together in an effort to benefit local non-profit organizations, thanks to a series of fundraising events that began in February.

Christina Chastain, gallery owner at Chastain’s Studio Lofts, said a very successful annual Christmas party and seven years of experience working with non-profit organizations were what started her thinking about how the gallery could do more to reach out to the community.