Deacon Kenneth Stroud of Saint Rose of Lima Catholic Church and Charlotte Dines, a resident of Nunnawauk Meadows,  will lead a panel on faith on Friday, November 8, from 1:30 until 3 pm. The panel will be part of the 2013 Church Women United (CWU) Celebration of World Community Day. “Walking Through the Doors of Opportunity” will be the theme for the speakers, who used their faith to survive and thrive.

The celebration will be in the Community Room at Nunnawauk Meadows, 3 Nunnawauk Road.

The Newtown and Greater Danbury Unit of CWU will host the celebration, which will include a worship service under the direction of Linda Manganaro, celebrations chair of the local CWU unit and executive director of Nunnawauk Meadows.

The event is open to the public.

Using scripture (Psalm 122), song, and worship, Deacon Stroud will discuss how he survived as Prisoner of War Number 2378 (the title of the book his son wrote) in a Japanese prison camp during World War II. It is something he did not talk about a great deal until his son began asking questions.

Deacon Stroud is the widower of longtime Newtown CWU member Pat Stroud.

He is British by birth, but has served for 36 years as a deacon in the Catholic Church. 

Ms Dines faced a variety of health issues and some family problems and found help through the Jewish Federation of Western Connecticut in Southbury. She is a native of Ohio and has traveled extensively. She has held secretarial jobs and ran a non-profit organization for several years.   She has two children and two grandchildren.

She has lived at Nunnawauk for two years and is involved there with the resident’s association, poetry reading group, and plays mahjong. 

Light refreshments will be served. An offering will be received, to support the Church Women United national movement.

The celebration will also include an Offering of The Least Coin, where attendees will be encouraged to share pennies while offering silent prayers. 

The local CWU unit is currently made up of representatives from Newtown United Methodist Church, St Rose of Lima, Newtown Congregational Church, Prince of Peace Lutheran and Valley Presbyterian churches in Brookfield, Methodist Church in Pawling, N.Y.; St Edward the Confessor Roman Catholic Church in New Fairfield, Bethel Congregational Church; and United Methodist, First Congregational and New Hope Baptist churches of Danbury.

For more information, call Darlene Jackson, Newtown-Greater Danbury CWU president, at 203-426-5192 or 203-788-1541, or Mrs Manganaro at 203-417-2701.