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Ohio congregation’s ‘Big Backyard’ welcomes Guatemalan neighbors

Posted December 10th, 2018

Why would families leave Guatemala to work in a meat-packing plant in Ohio? Members of First Presbyterian Church in Salem, Ohio, began asking that question as they met Guatemalan neighbors participating in games and other activities that the church sponsored on Wednesday evenings. The Rev. Meta Cramer was pleased that Guatemalan families, who make up about 8 percent of Salem’s population of 12,000, were attending FPC-Salem’s “Denise’s Big Backyard” summer program. The program is named for Denise Herron Weingart, a church elder who helped organize the event, which includes meals and Christian education. She died in 2014.