First United Methodist Church’s VBS activities focused on service this past week, with groups making items for foster children, bracelets for children in Honduras, and cards for veterans. “We want them to learn at an early age that reaching out and giving back, helping others is what we do as Christians,” said Rev. Lynn Mote. “It’s what Jesus wanted us to do and so we want them to learn that so it becomes a part of who they are.”

Other VBS programs at area churches also had activities aimed at serving others.

Below is a quick look back at a few more good news stories:

• Brookhaven’s new fire station on North First Street is taking shape. The former Boling-Hoskins Motors building has been gutted and eventually will be transformed into a station to replace an aging facility on Willard Street. The new station is being built with $625,000 in bond funds from the state. The station will be larger than the current firehouse with a drive-through bay built on the side so trucks can enter on North First Street and exit from behind the building. There will be additional parking areas inside the building for smaller trucks.

The plans include a kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, conference room, office, day room, workout area and laundry room as well as a covered area for grilling outside.

• The St. James Missionary Baptist Church team captured regular season and tournament championships in the 8U baseball league at the Lincoln Civic Center Baseball Complex. The team finished with a 19-2 record.

• Maggie Reynaud, a 14-year-old soprano from Brookhaven, recently won another Favorite Young Artist of the Year award from the Mississippi State Quartet Convention. Reynaud started singing with Gloryland, which was Gloryland Quartet at the time, in 2016. She was nominated for the first time a year later. Maggie is on the varsity fast-pitch and slow-pitch teams at Brookhaven High School and plays tournament ball with Southern Fury, a fast-pitch team based in Brookhaven.

• RAs, GAs and Mission Friends from Heucks Retreat Baptist Church recently presented law enforcement officers with handmade crosses and small New Testament Bibles to keep in their patrol cars.

• Brookhaven’s sales tax receipts are up for the month of April, keeping the trend on the rise. The city collected $517,383.92 in April from sales taxes, higher than March’s $437,490.64 by almost $80,000. April 2018 saw slightly higher receipts at $535,572.60, but the year-to-date totals for Brookhaven are higher than one year ago — $4,762,526.92, compared to $4,735,449.58.