News Briefs for December 26, 2019
News reports from Kiev, Ukraine; Orangewood Academy; Stockton, California; the Canadian Parliament and Seattle, Washington:
The Jewish Adventist friendship congregation in Kiev, Ukraine, has advertised a Chanukah celebration which will be held on December 29. Alexandra Obrevko is the congregation’s leader.
Orangewood Academy’s girls basketball team ranked 3rd in Orange County and 27th in the state of California this year. Though a smaller team than many, the Spartans have worked hard—getting to compete with larger schools as a result. “Because we are small, we have to outplay everybody and we have to earn everything we get,” said Leslie Aragon, the Spartans coach, in an Orange County Register article. These students are excited to give it their all and give God the glory.
Roseville, California-based Adventist Health is taking over the management of a struggling hospital in Stockton, California. Dameron Hospital will be managed by Adventist Health as of January 1, 2020. The hospital had been looking for a partner to ensure the long-term survival of the facility, as it has become harder and harder to survive as a standalone facility in today’s healthcare environment. The Sacramento Bee reported that Dameron Hospital has been losing market share to competitors over the last few years.
According to the Canadian Adventist Messenger, an Adventist has, for the first time, been elected as a member of the country’s parliament. Derek Nathaniel Sloan was elected on October 21, 2019. He will serve as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Conservative Party of Canada in the Ontario riding of Hastings–Lennox and Addington.
An Adventist congregation in the Seattle, Washington, area is fundraising to return the body of a woman who attended the church to her birth country of Kenya. True Vine Seventh-day Adventist Church Pastor Festus Gumbo said that the congregation was in shock at the death of Janet Oyuga and her sister, Angela Atrieno, both of whom attended the congregation. A GoFundMe has been set up to send Oyuga’s body to Kenya. The sisters were killed by their 85-year-old roommate, whom they had allowed to live with them while she made arrangements for other lodging.
