Monday, May 04, 2026
53.0°F

Piano students to support orphans with recital

JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 months, 2 weeks AGO
by JOEL MARTIN
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | December 15, 2025 3:00 AM

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake-area music students will perform to raise money for a Ukrainian orphanage, according to an announcement from piano teacher Marina Munter. 

Students of Moses Lake-Central Basin chapter of the Washington State Music Teachers Association members will perform “Christmas Songs for Ukrainian Orphans” Dec. 20, at Moses Lake Christian Academy, Munter wrote in the announcement. There is no set admission price but donations are encouraged. 

Participating piano teachers are Preta Laughlin, Marina Munter, Gracie Payne, Whitney Reck and Harriet West. Violin teacher Iryna Novikov’s students will also perform. 

The funds raised will benefit World Light Foundation, which was founded in 2004 by a former Moses Lake family, Munter wrote. The WLF operates three homes in Ukraine for abandoned and orphaned children, according to its website.  

“Their children attend public school and on Saturdays they go to the Christian club,” Munter wrote. “Some children are healthy; others are (infected) with HIV and AIDS.  The door of the orphanage is open for all vulnerable children who need a home.” 

Munter’s students will perform at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. with Novikov’s students. Reck’s students will perform at 2 p.m. West’s and Laughlin’s students will perform at 3:30 p.m. Payne’s students will perform at 5 and 6 p.m. 

For those who would like to help but can’t attend the recital, donations can be mailed to Munter at P.O. Box 1572, Moses Lake, WA 98837. All donated funds will be sent to the orphanage’s bank account, Munter wrote. 

“Our community is invited to come and enjoy a Christmas performance by local piano students,” Munter wrote. 

Christmas Songs for Ukrainian Orphans 

Dec. 20

Moses Lake Christian Academy Event Center 

1312 S. Moses Lake Ave. 

Performances begin 10:30 a.m. 


ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN

Museum’s Rusty Mammoth sale tomorrow to be the biggest in years
April 30, 2026 5:30 p.m.

Museum’s Rusty Mammoth sale tomorrow to be the biggest in years

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Museum & Art Center’s annual Rusty Mammoth Sale is tomorrow, and it’s a doozy, according to Museum Superintendent Dollie Boyd.

Hot stuff
May 4, 2026 3:20 a.m.

Hot stuff

Pride meets taste buds at Greenpoint chili cookoff

MOSES LAKE — Greenpoint Technologies engineer Gary Neu walked away with $100 and some serious bragging rights at the company’s annual chili cookoff April 27. “My reliable meat pimps at Ernie’s (Quality Meats and Wine) came through for me again,” Neu said. His chili wasn’t very spicy, he said, just traditional. “Just a good, solid, basic chili,” he said. “I’ve learned through the competitions that you have to cater to a very neutral element … If it even looks hot (people) will run and hide. There’s bell peppers in there, so it’s got a good color, but it doesn’t really have much heat.” Greenpoint, a company that does custom interiors for private planes, has held chili cookoffs for its employees for years, but this is only the fourth year that the company has invited judges from outside the company. This year’s judges were all from the Port of Moses Lake: Executive Director Dan Roach, Facility Director Milt Miller, Airport Director Rich Mueller, Executive Assistant Bonnie Peterson and Commissioner Darrin Jackson.

CB Job Corps to hold open house Wednesday
May 4, 2026 3 a.m.

CB Job Corps to hold open house Wednesday

MOSES LAKE — The Columbia Basin Job Corps Center will hold an open house Wednesday, to show prospective students and their community what the program has to offer. “We’ll have all our training programs on display,” said Community Liaison Susan Mann. “We … have our construction trades – carpenters, plasterers, cement masons and painters – and computer networking, office administration, culinary arts.” Each program will have an interactive display to let attendees see what the program is all about.