The Northwood United Methodist Church invites the public to attend a special worship celebration and a free community concert by the Sheltered Reality Percussion Ministry group on Sunday. The 10:30 a.m. worship celebration will be held at the church, 1000 First Ave. N., and will be followed by a lunch in the church’s Wesley Fellowship Hall.  A love offering to help support Sheltered Reality will be received during the worship. The free 2 p.m. afternoon concert will be held at the Northwood-Kensett Elementary School auditorium, 103 11th St. N.

Founded in 1997, Sheltered Reality (SR) is a nonprofit musical organization whose performing membership spans all ages (currently as young as 6 and as old as 82!).  However, the majority of the members are youth aged 7-18 who come from practice sites located in Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Colorado, Ohio, Utah, Nebraska, Illinois, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee (with more sites and states to come).

SR believes that music can have meaning, yet be a blast as the same time!  SR performances use the power of percussion set to music, as well as high energy choreography, to engage and then motivate audiences to realize that all of us, at any age in life, can dream and succeed.  Success is first demonstrated through audience drum lessons followed by one or more audience participation songs; these always prove to be fun for audience members of all ages. However, SR then uses stories of hardship and triumph, as well as a sequence of steps of success to teach personal empowerment, character building, and ultimately translate to the drum-playing success into something much more important: success in changing the world, and especially helping advocate for youth in crisis — the ultimate mission of Sheltered Reality.

For additional information, contact the church office at (641) 324-1557.