Chuck Monts learned about mission in terms of compassion and others when he was eight years old.  When his dad was a pastor, they had missionaries from Africa visit them.  They were American Missionaries and then they would come back and raise more money to go back and do more mission work.  Their eight-year old daughter loved his Lite-Brite Set.  He loved it himself.  So, they were packing everything  up and getting ready to go.  Monts' dad was a man of few words but he got his point across.  He looked down and said,  "I bet you that she would love the Lite-Brite Set.."  Monts looked up at him and said, "What? Give her my Lite-Brite Set?"  His dad didn't say anything more.  He just sort of walked away.  So, Monts wrapped up the chord and gave her the Lite-Brite Set.  He says that it was very hard to do, but it was the right thing to do.

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"I sort of learned about giving and service from my parents.  They always did Christmas baskets and Thanksgiving baskets for little kids."

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Monts, who was the former pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Hollidaysburg, set out on an adventure of a lifetime, when he biked from Los Angeles to New York City.

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"I did it for the Bowery Mission.  When you do something like this, there is a dimension of doing it for yourself.  So, it's not just for the mission.  I like adventure.  You don't do something like this if you don't like physical challenge and I love physical challenge", he says....

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***For the complete article, check out the upcoming book release They Came From Blair County Volume 2 due out by the end of 2021.

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***The information for this article was obtained through an in-person interview with Chuck Monts

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***Photos were provided by Chuck Monts