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Last year, Charlotte Holliday's piano students donated 500 CDs they recorded themselves to breast cancer patients at Johns Hopkins Avon Foundation Breast Center in Baltimore.

The students are finishing production on three CDs of 108 songs called "Sounds of Hope & Healing for Children" at Rolling Hills Recording Studios in Gaithersburg, Holliday said. The music students will donate 300 CDs to the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., 100 to the John Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore and 100 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. CDs will also be delivered to Frederick Memorial Hospital in Frederick, Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Montgomery General Hospital in Olney, Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville and Suburban Hospital in Bethesda.

Holliday and her students are forming a nonprofit, The Tacy Foundation Inc., so they can continue producing the albums.

The Avon Foundation donated extra CDs from the students' first batch of recordings to Tawam Hospital in the United Arab Emirates.

"Our CDs of children's piano pieces have been donated to hundreds of women throughout this area at times when those women struggle with a new and frightening reality in their lives," Holliday, of Germantown, wrote in an e-mail to The Gazette. "…master CDs were also delivered internationally to allow women in a culture where breast cancer victims may feel especially isolated to know that children on another continent still wish them hope and healing."

The new CD features songs in the public domain, pieces composed by the students and other songs that they had to get the rights to record, Holliday said. The students spent an hour and a half on Saturday assembling 900 CDs, she said.

— Meghan Tierney

UCAB ends year

The Upcounty Citizens Advisory Board, or UCAB, held its annual meeting and reception Monday night at BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown. Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett met with the board to discuss highlights from its year-end report. The report makes recommendations on the Interstate 270 Multi-Modal Study, the Germantown Employment Sector Plan, the Gaithersburg West Master Plan and Leggett's "Smart Growth Initiative." The meeting was followed by a reception for elected officials, county staff and upcounty civic leaders.

The report is available at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/upcounty. For more about UCAB, contact the Upcounty Regional Services Center at 240-777-8000 or upcounty.citizen@montgomerycountymd.gov.

Campus Congratulations

Vishal Kamlesh Patel of Germantown graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in aerospace engineering.

-Amanda Boxer of Germantown graduated from American University with a degree in law and society. She is the daughter of Mary Sue and Sherwood Boxer and graduated from Seneca Valley High School in 2006.

Ride with a purpose

Ride with the Maryland Fraternal Order of Police during its 10th Annual Motorcycle Ride on Sunday to benefit Concerns of Police Survivors Maryland Chapter.

C.O.P.S is a nonprofit that provides programs and services for the survivors of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in Maryland, according to a press release.

Registration and staging in Montgomery County is 9 to 11 a.m. at Battley Harley-Davidson 7830 Airpark Road, Gaithersburg. Riders will be escorted to the Howard County Fairgrounds, 2210 Fairgrounds Road, West Friendship. Lunch is sponsored by Outback Steakhouse and riders will receive a T-shirt.

A minimum donation of $25 per person is required for the escorted ride. There is no minimum donation for visiting the fairgrounds. 

There will be prizes for the riders who collect the most in pledges and also door prizes, 50/50 raffle and vendors.

For details, call Donnie Bell at 240-508-0497 or Greg Matthews at 301 980-5113.

Golf outing set for June 22

Thor Teams will hold its third annual golf outing June 22 at Little Bennett Golf Course in Clarksburg.

Thor Teams Inc. is a nonprofit that provides mentoring, tutoring and team building to students in the Damascus area with a financial hardship.

Thor Teams was started in 2006 and named after Al Thormeyer, the late Damascus elementary school principal. It began in 2007 with eight students and has 26 in grades six, seven and eight. It plans to add 15 students in July. Corporate sponsors and players are needed. Cost is $100 per golfer. Sponsorships are available.

To register write to Thor Teams Inc., 10820 Bellehaven Blvd., Damascus, MD 20872.

Grab a summer-reading book

Kick back with some good books and summer fun during the Summer Reading Program in Montgomery County Public Libraries. This year's themes are "Be Creative @ Your Library" for kids and "Express Yourself@ Your Library" for teen readers.

Children who sign up for the program between June 17 and Aug. 2 will receive a suggested reading list and a log to keep track of what they read – or, in the case of preschoolers enrolled in the "Read-to-Me" portion of the program, what titles are read to them.

For young adults, the "Express Yourself" part of the program will promote leisure reading, writing reviews for the Teen2Teen publication and attending programs. MCPL will continue its partnership with the Montgomery County Recreation Department to bring a Guitar Hero video gaming competition to each branch. Makeup tips, teen-friendly crafts , movie fests and book clubs are among the activities. Teens are eligible to win a new iPod or gift cards.

Programs include comedy magician Mike Rose, storyteller Gary Lloyd, Shadow Puppets Workshop and The Maryland Science Center.

To request ADA accommodations, at least five work days in advance, contact the library hosting the program or call 240-777-0140, TTY-240-777-0902.

Flyers with more details about Summer Reading programs are available in each branch, at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/library or call t240-777-0001. TTY users call Maryland Relay at 7-1-1.

Looking for an American Girl

The Prevention of Blindness Society of Metropolitan Washington is seeking approximately 100 girls to wear historical and contemporary American Girl fashions during its second annual American Girl Fashion Show, which will be held at the Bolger Center on Nov. 8 at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Proceeds from the event will raise awareness of the society's sight-saving children's programs. A model search will be held 1–3 p.m. Monday at the Bolger Center, 9600 Newbridge Drive in Potomac. More information at www.youreyes.org/contents/american_girl_fashion_show.

Bingo to benefit cancer walk

Almost $3,000 worth of Brighton purses and accessories will be given away at a Bingo game Thursday to benefit the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk sponsored by the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Team members Sue Shepard and Shelley Shepard are sponsoring the game, which will be played 7 p.m. in Room 121 of Johns Hopkins University, 9605 Medical Center Drive in Rockville. Doors open at 5:45 p.m.

Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door, and will include 15 games and a Chick-fil-A dinner. To purchase bingo or raffle tickets, call Shepard at 301-482-1634 or e-mail shepardr@verizon.net.

The team's Web site is www.the3day.org/goto/rackettes.

Send submissions to Melissa A. Chadwick via e-mail at mchadwick@gazette.net, fax at 301-670-7183 or mail to The Germantown-Boyds-Poolesville Gazette, 9030 Comprint Court, Gaithersburg, MD 20877.