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Two Bethesda middle school students have taken up the cause to help a homeless baby llama named Jean-Claude. The North Bethesda Middle School eighth-graders, Cameron Ishee and Katie Dix, have pledged to raise $3,500 to build a winter shelter for the llama, which was taken in last month at Star Gazing Farm, an animal sanctuary in Boyds.

Star Gazing Farm accepted the six-month-old llama, but its barn is already filled with unwanted and abused farm animals including two horses, seven sheep, three goats, a boar and a donkey. The farm is also home to two steer, barn cats, guard dogs and chickens, ducks and geese. With such a full house, there is no room in the barn for the llama.

"We are absolutely at capacity," said Anne Schroeder, farmer at Star Gazing Farm. "People call us every week to take in animals. We have to really pick and choose what we can take."

Schroeder said that she often tries to place animals at other small farms, but she agreed to take in Jean-Claude with a job for him already in mind. Llamas can be great companions for sheep, she said, and are good at protecting them from stray dogs and coyotes.

But after Jean-Claude arrived at the farm, Schroeder realized that he eventually could grow to be 6 feet tall and that there really wasn't space for him.

Ishee and Dix learned about the llama's plight while doing farm chores at Star Gazing Farm as volunteers. The girls regularly volunteer there each Saturday.

"We had heard he wasn't wanted and we took him in, but there's definitely not enough room for another large animal," Cameron said.

They are soliciting donations to build an addition to the barn, nicknamed the "Llama Lodge" through the farm's Web site,

www.stargazingfarm.org, and asking for help from their friends and family. They are also spreading the word on Facebook.

The addition could cost from $12,000 to $15,000, and the farm has already raised $4,000 in pledges, Schroeder said.

"We love working there and we love the animals," Cameron said. "When the llama came, he was really shy with people, so we did some training with him and we just kind of bonded with the llama."

Their next fundraiser will be at the Thomas W. Pyle Middle School Alternative Gift Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Dec. 5, at the school 6311 Wilson Lane, Bethesda. Those interested will be able to donate to the llama lodge, sponsor farm animals and purchase gifts made from the farm's wool. All donations are tax-deductible.

For more information, contact Schoroeder at farmeranne@star

gazingfarm.org.

A jubilant benefit

Tenor Rolando Sanz, saxophonist Kristofer Sanz and pianist Dr. Joy Schreier will present a recital to benefit the Jubilee Association of Maryland at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Ohr Kodesh synagogue, 8300 Meadowbrook Lane in Chevy Chase.

The Jubilee Association provides services for more than 100 adults with developmental disabilities in Montgomery County, including Rolando and Kristofer's cousin. Their aunt, Graciela Sanz is on the board of directors of the Jubilee Foundation and is honored that members of her family are donating their talents.

And talented they are. Rolando Sanz has performed with Opera Idaho as Nemorino in L'elisir d'Amore and will perform in 2010 with the Baltimore Concert Opera in "A Flight of Verdi." Saxophonist Kristofer Sanz is director of Instrumental Music at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, and Schreier has served as official pianist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the Wolf Trap Young Artist Auditions.

Tickets to the benefit are $30 per person and can be purchased by calling the Jubilee office at 301-949-8626, Graciela Sanz at 301-774-6231 or visiting www.jubileemd.org.

Winter Wonderland returns

to downtown Bethesda

The holiday season officially kicks off in downtown Bethesda on Dec. 4 and 5 during the ninth annual Winter Wonderland festival.

The weekend begins with a free winter concert featuring professional choral groups including DC Accidentals, Georgetown Phantoms and UMD Treblemakers, all a cappella groups and Gospel group In Touch. The concert starts at 8 p.m., Dec. 4 at Imagination Stage, 4908 Auburn Ave., Bethesda.

Entertainment continues from 1 to 4 p.m. Dec. 5 in Veterans Park, located at the corner of Woodmont and Norfolk avenues. The event will feature a live ice sculpting demonstration and choral performances from students from Garrett Park Elementary, Our Lady of Lourdes, Redland Middle School, Seneca Valley High and St. Jane de Chantal. Santa Claus will also make a visit and holiday treats will be provided for children.

All events are free. For more information, contact the Bethesda Urban Partnership at 301-215-6660 or at www.bethesda.org.

Green Acres remembers teacher, quilter

After quilter and teacher Virginia "Ginny" Spevak and her husband, Michael, were brutally killed in their Chevy Chase, Washington D.C. home last year, mourners came together to remember the couple, and in their grief created something beautiful.

In a nod to Michael's Jewish heritage, pieces of cloth were distributed to the roughly 500 mourners at the funeral at the Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church where Ginny was a member, and the congregation partook in the tradition of rending the cloth by ripping it in unison during one cathartic moment. The pieces were collected, assembled into kits with 10 strips each to make into blocks, and sewn together by some 70 loved ones, including former school colleagues, fellow quilters like Ginny, and the Spevaks' children, Eli and Leah. Out of the cloth came nine quilts and five quilted pillows which will be distributed to the Spevaks' family and friends.

The quilts were on display over the weekend as part of a quilt show at Green Acres School in Rockville, where Spevak worked for 28 years before retiring in 2001. Part of the school's 75th anniversary celebration, the quilt show highlighted quilts made by parents, teachers and students at the school, in a tradition that dates back a quarter century — when Spevak and a colleague first brought members of the school community together to create a quilt to donate to the school's fundraising auction. Quilting has since become an integral part of the school's culture: Third-graders stitch quilts each year as part of their study of Colonial America, eighth-graders sew decorative banners and faculty and staff create quilts for retiring colleagues and those welcoming babies.

This column is for you. Share your good news! Feel free to send press releases and news tips. For Bethesda and Chevy Chase items, contact Stephanie Siegel via e-mail at ssiegel@gazette.net or phone at 301-280-3006. For Kensington and Garrett Park items, contact Jen Beasley via e-mail at jbeasley@gazette.net or phone at 301-280-3005. You can also send information by fax at 301-670-7183, or snail mail at 9030 Comprint Court, Gaithersburg, MD 20877.

-Federal, state and county offices are closed Thursday, Nov. 26, Thanksgiving Day.

-Banks, libraries and courts are closed.

-Montgomery County Public Schools administrative offices are closed.

-No refuse or recycling collection. For remainder of week, collections will be provided one day later. The county's waste transfer station is closed.

-Ride On, Metrobus and Metrorail will operate on a Sunday schedule.

-MARC trains will not run

Nov. 26-27.

-County liquor stores are closed.

-Parking is free at county lots, meters and garages.