Awarm Neighbors in Religion salute to Julio D. Anta, 19, who has the homeless at heart.

Anta has fed the homeless for years, but from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, he has invited the community to share in this gift-giving project as he, through his ministry Humility Now, hosts the inaugural Homeless BBQ/Clothing Drive.

The event will be in a parking lot at Northeast Eighth Street and Second Avenue, a block west of the AmericanAirlines Arena.

Anta and his helpers will distribute hamburgers and hot dogs, and clean clothes to the homeless.

A journalism student at Miami Dade College, Anta works as a black belt instructor at his parents' martial arts school in the Doral area.

To understand just how it feels to be homeless, Anta and three of his friends once spent a weekend living on the streets.

If you would like to help Anta, here is a list of items needed:

• Frozen hamburgers and buns

• Frozen hot dogs and buns

• Napkins

• Condiments (ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise)

• Potato chips

• Clothing (all sizes, especially adult sizes large and up)

You may drop off your donations at Anta's Fitness and Self Defense at 10721 NW 58th St. in Doral, or call Anta at 305-599-3649 for pick up.

HOLIDAY CONCERT

You know 'tis the season, when local church and community choirs present their annual Christmas concerts featuring G. F. Handel's Messiah.

At 5 p.m. Dec. 5 at Sierra Norwood Calvary Baptist Church, 495 NW 191st St., the Miami Oratorio Society, one of South Florida's oldest community choirs, will present the classic work along with selections from other famous composers.

In addition, the Sierra Norwood Children's Ensemble and The Children of Truth, will perform.

The Rev. Richard Ledgister is pastor of the church and one of the original members of the choir, which was founded in the late 1970s by the late Victor Kelly.

Tickets to the performance cost $20 for adults and $10 for children ages 7 through 12.

For tickets and more information, call 954-486-9164.

INTERNATIONAL BAZAAR

Grace Lutheran Church will host its International Christmas Bazaar from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the church, 254 Curtiss Pkwy., in Miami Springs. The bazaar will feature handmade items from around the world.

If your church or nonprofit organization would like a booth to sell handmade items, call Tamara at 305-888-1117 or e-mail her at TamaraThomasCRC

@bellsouth.net to reserve booth space and for more information.

In addition, the Grace Cafe will be open throughout the day, serving a continental breakfast starting at 9 a.m. and lunch starting at 11:30 a.m.

More good news from Grace: Seven young adults from the church who are in college recently received a combined $4,500 in scholarship money toward their college education.

The money was divided equally among Lizzy, Alex and Pana Kourtesis, Michael Llewellyn, Raj Prabhakar, Tyler Thomas and Diana Stevens.

HEALING SERVICE

Cantor Marc Philippe will lead a healing service at 5 p.m. Nov. 22 in the chapel at Beth Moshe Congregation, 2225 NE 121st St. in North Miami.

The program is open to the community and will begin with the cantor presenting an hour of healing music, sacred texts and Jewish guided meditation.

It's free. For more information, call the temple office at 305-891-5508.

BOOK FAIR PANEL

From the Proud Mamas' Department:

Edda L. Fields-Black, Ph.D., daughter of my good friend Dorothy Jenkins Fields, Ph.D., (who also writes a column that runs Sundays in Neighbors), will be a part of the African Diaspora Panel book talk and book signing at 5 p.m. Saturday at the 2009 Miami Book Fair International.

Edda's book is Deep Roots: Rice Farmers in West Africa and the African Diaspora.

In addition to being a wife and the mother of two young children, Edda is an associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Joining her on the panel will be Tera W. Hunter, Ph.D., whose late mother Inell Hunter was also my good friend.

Tera Hunter is a professor of history at Princeton University in New Jersey.

Her books are T'Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women's Lives and Labors After the Civil War, The African American Urban Experience and Perspectives From the Colonial Period to the Present.

Others on the panel include Janis A. Mayes, associate professor of African-American studies at Syracuse University , co-editor of A Rain of Words: A Bilingual Anthology of Women's Poetry in Francophone Africa and Irene Assiba d'Almeida, professor of Francophone Studies at the University of Arizona.

Her books include Francophone African Women Writers: Destroying the Emptiness of Silence.

For more information, go to www.miamibookfair.com.

Send all items at least a week in advance to Religion Notes, c/o Neighbors, 2010 NW 150th Ave., Pembroke Pines, FL 33028, fax it to 954-538-7018 or e-mail bhines@MiamiHerald.com. Pictures are accepted but cannot be returned.

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