Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3355 MacArthur Road, will hold a blessing of backpacks (for students and teachers) during the 9 a.m. Aug. 27 service. All students are invited to bring their backpacks that morning.

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St. John’s United Church of Christ, Mickleys, 2918 MacArthur Road, will hold its Rally Day 9-10 a.m. Sept. 10. The public is invited to attend.

Karen Gensey, Whitehall Township historian, will talk about MacArthur Road and the history of St. John’s - the oldest church on MacArthur Road. The church will be celebrating with cookies and drinks.

Everyone also is invited to attend the church service from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Following the church service, there will be a picnic with hot dogs and drinks provided by the Christian education department and also other food made by church members.

Event organizers request an RSVP with the number of people attending the program and/or picnic. To do so, email Diane Mahler at jmahler.clan@gmail.com.

In addition, the church is collecting nonperishable food items for Whitehall Food Bank.

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Rally Day at Faith is Sept. 10. Two morning services will resume - 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. - as will Sunday school, 9:15 a.m.

A church picnic will begin after the 10:30 a.m. service.

Everyone who attends is welcome to bring a covered dish to share. The church provides hot dogs, hamburgers and drinks.

At the picnic, there will be food, bingo, face painting, a cake walk, pony rides and more.

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Hokendauqua Park and Playground Association will hold girls and boys basketball registration for the 2017-18 season at Hokendauqua Fire Company, 3022 S. Second St., on the following days: 6-8 p.m. Sept. 20 and 28 and Oct. 6.

Online registration run Sept. 12-Oct. 6. Visit hokeypark.org.

For more information, email Martin Donohue at donohuema33@gmail.com.

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Save the date of Oct. 22 on your calendar. Faith will be hosting bingo starting 1 p.m.

This will be a fundraiser for the church.

More details will be included in the next few weeks.

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Does your church, club or organization have news for the Hokendauqua column? Send me an email at skoch@tnonline.com by Sept. 1 to meet the next column deadline.