LadyBUGS Fashion Show Luncheon was a sold out crowd this month at Cedar Grove Baptist Church with approximately 210 in attendance.  Miss Leeds Area Outstanding Teen Coco Green was among the ladies who modeled latest fashions from local retailers.  Miss Alabama Outstanding Teen Zoe’ Champion performed.  Many local businesses donated door prizes and lunch was provided by Chicken Salad Chick.  This event is the only fundraiser that the Leeds/Moody Professional Women’s Group conducts to provide scholarships to four deserving Leeds and Moody students each year.  LadyBUGS is an acronym which stands for Lady believing, understanding, guiding and serving.  Each month’s meeting includes lunch, fellowship and speaker.  Their April meeting is always the scholarship fundraiser event.  Scholarship applicants are received, interviews are conducted and then, scholarship winners are invited to the May meeting to be introduced to LadyBUGS members so stay tuned to see who the recipients will be this year.  We appreciate the work that this organization does each year to help these local high school students.

I love to see social media posts about kindness and just reaching out to others.  I saw two particular Facebook posts in the last week where acts of kindness were shown that caught my attention.  Joy Etheridge Davis was the recipient of just that and she gave me permission to share her story that she posted on the What’s Happening in Leeds Facebook Group.  “I know there are a lot of negative posts on this site, but I wanted to share something good.  I have lived on Sunset Drive behind the football stadium for 30+ years now.  There are a lot of people who have grown up and lived on the street.  We have great neighbors and very fond memories.  One of my sweet neighbors baked me and my husband a cake which made my heart jump with joy.  If you have ever lived on this street, I’m sure you have good memories as well.  Thank you, Katie Vance.  The cake was delicious!  I forgot to mention another neighbor, Jamie from next door, who brought us fresh strawberries and blueberries yesterday, as well.  Also, the neighbor across the street let my husband and I look at his new house.  It is so pretty.  I know his wife is probably most excited about her huge closet and enclosed sunroom.  I thank the Lord for my neighbors.  Living in Leeds is a blessing and I’m counting my blessings today.  How about you?”

Doesn’t it do your heart good to hear neighborhood stories like that?  Thank you, Joy, for sharing your heart.  I challenge my readers to reach out to someone else with a random act of kindness or share a story on social media of a kindness granted to you.

Leeds Downtown Carnival provided plenty of fun last week.  The weather was great for most of the scheduled days, but closed Sunday, their last day scheduled, due to bad weather forecasts.  I had the opportunity to stop in and see some of the fun that families and their kids were having.  Overall, it was a good size carnival with a lot of rides and activities.  The carnival will be back in October.

The award-winning St. Clair County Culinary School outdid themselves last week at the Moody Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon.  These students under the direction of Chef Allphin prepared and served a delicious meal to everyone attending.  Chef Allphin shared information about the culinary program, the awards students have won, scholarship opportunities and job opportunities that are available through the program.  The school offers meal preparation as an opportunity to raise money to pay for the travel expenses of the state and national competitions.

Leeds Area Chamber of Commerce will host their monthly luncheon at 11:45 a.m. today, April 18 at Leeds First United Methodist Church Family Life Center.  Guest speaker will be Jay Lamar with Alabama Tourism who will speak on the Bicentennial.  Lunch will be catered by Bluegrass BBQ.  Lunch is $12 with RSVP and $15 without RSVP, so make your reservations by calling 205-699-5001.

The Doris Stanley Memorial Library will host Mr. Jake Smith of Renfroe, Alabama at 1 p.m. this Friday, April 19 at the library.  Mr. Renfroe is a bottle collector.

We will be celebrating the Easter this weekend.  I am so thankful for a risen Lord and Savior.  It saddens me that many people, especially young people, are turning away from God and Christianity or maybe even have never been to church.  There are a lot of people who think the Bible is full of don’ts, you can’t do this, you can’t do that and that being a Christian restricts the fun you can have.  Actually, it is completely the opposite.  God knows the heartache and repercussions that come with not following His plan.  He laid out a guide for living in His book, the Holy Bible, because He wanted us to have a better life.  God knew we could never live up to the standards, because we are human and live in a fallen world, but He has a plan to help.  Jesus took the penalty of all of our wrong-doing, all of our imperfections, and laid them on the cross.  He died in our place so we could have life and have that life more abundantly.  Tomorrow, we will celebrate Good Friday and Easter this Sunday.  There are plenty of great churches in the area and I invite you to attend an Easter Sunday service at one of them.  It may very well be the most important decision of your life.  Actually, your life does depend upon it.  It’s not about church, it’s not about religion, but it is about a relationship with this person called Jesus.  If you don’t already know Jesus personally, I encourage you to learn more Him.

The 9^th Annual Moody Masters Golf Tournament is scheduled for Monday, April 22 at Trussville Country Club.  The schedule includes Registration and Warm Up at 10:30 a.m., lunch at 11:15 a.m. and Shotgun Start at Noon.  For info, please download tournament application at www.moodyalchamber.com.

Moody City Council will meet at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 22 at Moody City Hall.

Job Opening:  Chick-fil-A Leeds is growing!  They are looking for hospitality professionals who are 18 or older, have a great attitude and a flexible schedule.  Pay begins at $12 per hour with advancement opportunities available.  Open interviews will be hosted on Wednesdays between 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. or you may submit your resume to cfaleedsjobs@gmail.com.

Thought for the week:  “Spread kindness all around.  Everyone could use a kind word or deed!”

I truly appreciate each of you who read my column and I really love sharing news so please send your Leeds and Moody news to me at leedsmoodynews@gmail.com.