Two local bands, the Enablers of Chapel Hill and Carrboro and the String Strummers of Chatham County, will present a concert blending Celtic and Appalachian music on Saturday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m. in the sanctuary of United Church of Chapel Hill, 1321 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

The program, titled "Thistle and Bluegrass - from Scotland to Appalachia," will feature a blend of Celtic and Appalachian songs and dance tunes. Selections will include traditional music from Scotland and Ireland, where much of American folk and Appalachian music is rooted.

The audience will have the opportunity to participate in singing, including the familiar Scottish folk tune, "Loch Lomond." Traditional Appalachian music is believed to be based primarily on Anglo-Celtic folk ballads and instrumental dance tunes.

The concert is free and open to the public. Donations are requested to support United Church's Music Outreach.

Joining The Enablers for the concert are guest vocalist Jennifer Anderson, director of music at United Church, and fiddler Hannah Dyess, also a member of the church.

The Enablers play traditional Celtic dance tunes and songs. The group came together in an unusual way; the band members are trail runners, members of the TrailHeads, local nonprofit trail running club founded by Steve Hoge, and the friendship they built running together on the trails of UNC's Carolina North Forest led eventually to their forming the musical group.

Members include Hoge, who plays flute, whistles and Scottish small pipes; Bruce Wilks on guitar and vocals; and Rachel McNassor on fiddle. By day, Hoge is editor of digital media for W.W. Norton publishers, Wilks is a physician with Carrboro Family Medicine, and McNassor is director of development at UNC's Flagler Business School.

The String Strummers, featuring fiddler Evelyn Shaw, guitarist and vocalist Leda Hartman and banjo player Mike Ramsey, bring traditional "old time" music to the program.

By day, Shaw is an educational planning and development consultant at Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at UNC. Hartman is a public media journalist and Ramsey is a banjo maker and owner of Chanterelle Workshop in Pittsboro.

Jennifer Anderson, soprano, United Church's Chancel Choir director since 2001, became the church's full-time director of music this past summer. In addition to directing several music groups, she coordinates the church's large, diverse music program and provides support to the talented pool of volunteer music group leaders.

Anderson became interested in Scottish folk songs when she married her own Scottish laddie, Alex Anderson, who hails from Motherwell, near Glasgow. An accomplished organist and pianist, Alex will serve as accompanist and translator.

Jenny and Alex have performed at local "Burns Night" suppers, the annual Jan. 25 birthday celebration of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns.

Hannah Dyess, guest fiddler, is a senior at Emerson Waldorf School.

She began violin study as a Suzuki student in second grade. While in middle school, she took up the fiddle with her teacher, Kat Payseur. Hannah plans to study medical science in college.

A mission trip to Europe

Mary Catherine Hinds, associate regional director of Church World Service in the Southeast USA, left Nov. 8 for Serbia and Moldova to evaluate projects supported by CROP Hunger Walks.

Among those projects are ones that benefit Roma women and children. "Roma" is the term that has replaced the older, pejorative term "Gypsies," which had the connotation "worthless drifters."

While popular antipathy toward Romas is not as bad as it was during World War II, they still encounter pronounced social and economic discrimination, with the most vulnerable, as always, the women and children. (It has been estimated that between 250,000 and 600,000 Gypsies were exterminated during that period.)

Hinds, who is the mother of two small children, Carter, 6, and Louisa, 3, said, "My son has raised nearly $3,000 in Raleigh's CROP Hunger Walk over the past two years. Even as young as he is, he is aware of the need and of our capacity to make a difference in the lives of people around the world who live on the edge."

Church World Service, the national sponsor of some 1,700 CROP Hunger Walks around the country, began its international humanitarian work in Europe in 1947 in the aftermath of WWII.

"That we continue to provide help in Europe after 65 years, rather than being disheartening, is an enduring sign of hope both for us and for those still living broken lives," Hinds said.

She will return on Nov. 22.

Clothes Closet to open

The Take and Clothes Closet at Lystra Baptist Church will be open Saturday, Nov. 19, from 9 to 10:30 a.m. The church is located at 686 Lystra Road, just off U.S. 15-501. Anyone needing clothes is welcome to come. There is no advantage in arriving before 8:45 a.m. when folks will draw numbers to determine the order in which they may shop. Each family may get two bags of clothes. Everything is free.

Group holds bake sale

The United Church Women of Carrboro United Methodist Church will hold a Bake Sale and Breakfast on Saturday, Nov. 19, from 8 a.m. to noon. In addition to cakes, pies and other homemade foods, one-pound bags of Terri Lynn nuts will be on sale along with a variety of handmade craft items and gently used "white elephant" items.

A breakfast of plain, ham or sausage biscuits, fruit cup, coffee and juice will be available, beginning at 8 a.m.

The church is at 200 Hillsborough Road, in front of the elementary school.

Organ recital Sunday

James Lazenby will present a free organ recital open to the public on Sunday, Nov. 20, at 4 p.m. at St. Benedict's Anglican Church, 870 Weaver Dairy Road, followed by Choral Evensong.

On Thanksgiving Day, St. Benedict's will have a service of Holy Communion at 10 a.m., using the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Alternative Gift Market

The Alternative Gift Market at United Church of Chapel Hill on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 19-20, is an affirmation of joy and justice in which participants are invited to participate in the joy of giving and practice justice.

The market allows shoppers to do holiday shopping that benefits others. All proceeds support organizations that promote human dignity and social justice.

The market will be held Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday from 10a.m. to 1 p.m. United Church is at 1321 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Homelessness summit

A summit gathering sponsored by the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness will be held on Friday, Nov. 18, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at St. Thomas More Catholic Church, 940 Carmichael St.

A slate of distinguished speakers includes Terry Allebaugh, founder and executive director of Housing for New Hope in Durham; Anna Neal Blanchard, executive director of the Steward Fund in Raleigh; Roberta Macauley, Wake County Support Circle Coordinator; and Bernadette Pelissier, Orange County commissioner and chair of the Partnership to End Homelessness.

Support Circles, or teams of volunteers from faith and community based groups have an ongoing ministry in which Circle members partner with individuals and families that are transitioning out of homelessness into permanent housing.

A free lunch will follow the morning program.