Grace Lutheran Church, 28 W. Main St., will offer its free community meal 4-5:30 p.m. Jan. 12. This will be a drive-up takeout only meal.

Grace Lutheran Church holds a weekly free food distribution 2-4 p.m. every Wednesday, Jan. 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 for East Penn School District residents. Signs will be posted with directions for parking and pickup.

The Macungie Institute will continue to offer free weekly Pinochle and Mahjong Wednesdays. Pinochle is 10 a.m. to noon and Mahjong is 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Upcoming classes include painting with the police and a charcuterie class. For more information, visit www.macungieinstitute.com.

Christmas trees should be placed at the curb for pickup by the borough on the weeks of Jan. 8 and 15 for recycling at the Emmaus Compost Center. All ornaments, lights and tinsel must be removed.

Concordia Lutheran Preschool will have a registration day open house to enroll students for the 2024-2025 school year 10 a.m. to noon Jan. 15. Virtual registration will open to the public 8 a.m. Jan. 15. The staff will give tours and accept registration for the upcoming school year. For more information, call 610-965-3265.

Lower Lehigh AARP will meet noon Jan. 4 in the lower level of Macungie Memorial Hall at Macungie Memorial Park. The next meeting will be Feb. 1. For more information, contact Dot at 610-967-3284.

The Alburtis Seniors will meet noon Jan. 17 at Church of the Good Shepherd, 135 Quarry Road, Alburtis. There will be a potluck buffet lunch followed by a meeting and bingo. There is a small charge. Bring a covered dish. For more information, call Doris at 610-966-3653.

There will be a winter craft fair 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 3 at Macungie Memorial Hall. The event is sponsored by K4K & Fur Mama.

Macungie Borough offices are open to the public 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. For information, call 610-966-2503.

Macungie Borough Council has in-person public meetings at the Macungie Institute. The next meetings will be 7:30 p.m. Jan. 15 and Feb. 5.

Cash bingo is held weekly Saturday evenings at Macungie Memorial Park. Doors open 4:30 p.m. and games begin 6:30 p.m. For more information, call 610-966-4289.

The Macungie Park Board of Directors meeting is 7 p.m. Jan. 30.

It started with a limp. The vet couldn’t find any cause and prescribed some painkillers and rest.

The symptoms waned until months later when Daisy started yelping in pain and her leg showed signs of swelling.

Antibiotics and a fluid biopsy didn’t give us any answers. A second biopsy revealed spindle cells, raising the specter of cancer.

Finally, a CT scan gave us the answers that we needed but didn’t want to hear: an invasive and fast-growing soft tissue sarcoma. Due to the invasive and aggressive nature of the cancer, our only option was amputation.

Fortunately, despite her age, Daisy is a very strong, determined dog with a stubborn streak.

While my husband and I mourned the loss of her leg, Daisy didn’t waste any time on self-pity. The morning after surgery she was standing up in her crate at the hospital. She jumped into the car to go home all by herself. She refused offers of help navigating obstacles and instead would go on a sit-down strike until she figured out how to do it on her own.

All in all, amputation has not slowed our tripod down and she has resumed tearing around the yard with her doggy sister and doing vertical jumps in excitement for peanut butter. Her persistence and determination are lessons for us all.

The wonderful news was that her pathology report came back negative for any spread beyond her leg. Having Daisy with us for Christmas was the best present of all!

The copy deadline for the Feb. 7 column will be Feb. 1.