The Marthasville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Ministerial Alliance sponsored the annual prayer breakfast Tuesday, Feb. 28, at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ and raised nearly $1,000 in support of the Washington Overseas Mission.Jan Long and her husband Tim Long, M.D., are longtime members of the mission team. Jan reported that her husband could not attend because he had a slight heart attack and received three stents in his heart due to the great medical care available in this country.“That doesn’t happen in Honduras,” she said. “But we receive amazing community support here in the area to help the people of Honduras.”Long said more than 2,600 patients were treated for medical issues; more than 500 women were seen for women’s health issues; and more than 700 people received dental care in 2016.“You’ve made a difference in somebody’s life,” said Audrey Freitag, a mission team member.Long said a team of 57 will be returning to Honduras this year at their own expense. She thanked the public for the many ways they help, including donations of medicines, food, clothing, shoes and school supplies.Guest speaker at this year’s event was Chaplain Gary Gilmore of the Missouri Army National Guard. Gilmore has been with the National Guard since 1987 and has served in many military operations, including a deployment to Baghdad.Gilmore spoke of the drastic changes military personnel have to face when they return home and how the chaplaincy program helps to support them. He said there are more than 11,000 National Guard members in Missouri reporting to 63 different locations.“A lot of veterans don’t feel understood,” he said. “They feel people don’t get what it does to our families. They are really challenged by financial issues, relationships and substance abuse. There is a higher rate of suicide than in the general public.”Gilmore said a beautiful chapel is located at the Ike Skelton Training Site near Jefferson City, called “The Patriot Center.” It was made possible by a veterans group and serves as a place to serve the spiritual needs of National Guardsmen.Gilmore said he appreciated people from different churches getting together to raise money for a good cause. He praised the students from St. Ignatius for helping serve the breakfast.“The strength of the family is the community,” he said. “The strength of the community is the faith community. When you keep your community strong, you are keeping America strong.”

Chaplain Gary Gilmore, left, of the Missouri National Guard and guest speaker, praised the eighth-grade students from St. Ignatius Catholic School for serving breakfast during this year's annual ecumenical prayer breakfast Tuesday, Feb. 28. He said you know your community is healthy when you see the students donating their time to help. Gilmore gave each student a souvenir from the Missouri National Guard. Record photo/ Cindy Gladden.