Faith

The Personal Energy Transportation Project, founded in Columbia, sent more than $33,000 worth of donated supplies, including hand-cranked wheelchairs to Nicaragua on Friday.

The issue came to the ACLU's attention after former Chicago Bears team chaplain Ray McElroy, a former NFL defensive back, made several presentations to St. Joseph district schools in October.

The sixth day of Hanukkah was celebrated Sunday at an event at the Chabad House in Columbia.

A Missouri church organized an event that packed more than 600,000 meals for children in Haiti.

Lowe's stands by its decision to pull advertisements during the airing of the TLC show "All-American Muslim."

Roman Catholics are having to adjust to a change in the English translation of Roman Catholic Mass.

Avremi and Channy Lapine are moving to Columbia from Brooklyn, and they are bringing their faith with them. The couple will open up their home as a Chabad-Lubavitch house for the community. Chabad-Lubavitch is a sect of Orthodox Judaism.

After seeing Jeff Copeland perform street magic in Columbia, youth members of Alive in Christ Lutheran Church decided to book him for their lock in.

Muslim workers walked off the job Friday after a disagreement with the management team about prayer time. Muslims are required to pray five times a day at specific times, and they met with management Monday to negotiate a long-term solution.

Two Catholic churches — Sacred Heart and the Newman Center — began sharing priests Aug. 1. As of Sunday, the Rev. Thomas Saucier is pastor for both churches. Despite the double workload and growing pains, the priest's enthusiasm is unwavering.

The 2011 CROP Hunger Walk on Sunday raised more than $2,000 in an effort to overcome poverty. The walk was 2.5 miles around downtown Columbia.

The Alive in Christ Lutheran Church youth group held a Man Hunt at the Columbia Mall on Wednesday to collect supplies and food for the Rainbow House and the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri.

Volunteers from First Baptist Church served at the second-hand clothes shop, The Wardrobe, on Saturday.  The group cleared out the summer inventory to make room for winter clothing. First Baptist goes out on "hands-on missions" once a month.

The Welcome Place offers a relaxing, discussion-based sermon instead of a more traditional worship service. The new service debuted Saturday night.

The Lutheran Malaria Initiative will start with events Sunday through Thursday. The effort is trying to raise $45 million to eliminate malaria deaths in Africa by 2015.

Brian Mitchell, the new director of MU Hillel, hopes the organization becomes more active and engaging to Jewish students. He is planning a birthright trip to Israel in December.

Personal satisfaction and support from friends and family help converts to Islam handle the difficulties they face.

The new program, "Adventures In Christ PM Edition — Fusion," will be held from Sept. 7 to Oct. 26, and it is provided for kindergarteners to high school school students.

The Welcome Place will debut at 5 p.m. Sept. 17 and is intended to be a more relaxed, discussion type service.

MU's Muslim Student Organization celebrates the beginning of the fall semester and the breaking of Ramadan on Wednesday in the Mark Twain Ballroom in the Memorial Union.