HOLMES BEACH – The Kiwanis Club of Anna Maria Island will celebrate its 60th annual Easter Sunrise Service on Sunday, April 20.
The 6:30 a.m. service will be held at Manatee Beach, 4000 Gulf Drive.
The annual Easter service attracts 1,000 to 2,000 worshipers. There will be ample parking in the beach parking lot, the free AMI Trolley will start running at 6 a.m. and the Anna Maria Beach Café will open at 6:30 a.m. Attendees are encouraged to bring chairs or blankets.
“Our Island has been through a lot this year with a tropical storm and two hurricanes but we are ‘Anna Maria Strong’ and proud to be able to come together and celebrate for our 60th anniversary of the Kiwanis of Anna Maria Island Easter Sunrise Service with our Island churches,” according to the Kiwanis press release.
“Come and share this celebration on the beach as we show our gratefulness for this Island we call our paradise. It is truly an uplifting service as the Island churches participate,” the press release says.
Rev. Phillip Schweda of St. Bernard Catholic Church will deliver this year’s sermon. Belinda Strickland of the Episcopal Church of the Annunciation will deliver the invocation. Senior Pastor Dirk Rodgers of the Roser Memorial Community Church will deliver the offertory and the benediction and Rev. Stephen King of Harvey Memorial Community Church will deliver the scripture readings.
Island business owner Morgan Bryant will sing inspirational Easter music and worshipers are invited to sing along.
The offertory collected in association with the Easter Sunrise Service will be divided among the Island churches and the Kiwanis Club of Anna Maria Island. The sunrise service program handout is posted at the Kiwanis Club website, www.amikiwanis.com, and online donations can be made to assist the Island churches and the Kiwanis Club.
