World News
Guitarist Melendez brings music, message of hope to Delaware youths
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WILMINGTON, Del. (CNS) -- Less than a minute after he took the stage with his guitar, Tony Melendez had more than 400 students dancing, singing, clapping, hugging and doing conga lines around the auditorium at a Wilmington Catholic high school. "I've wanted to see him forever," said Paige Thommes, an eighth-grader at St. Mary Magdalen School in Wilmington. "I play the guitar, too, but to see how he plays it is inspirational." The 47-year-old Melendez, born in Nicaragua and now living in Branson, Mo., plays the guitar with his feet. He was born without arms because his mother was prescribed thalidomide, a drug once used to ease morning sickness in pregnancy. "My message is hope," he told The Dialog, newspaper of the Diocese of Wilmington. "This age group is respectful of what I do. They see a guy with no arms, singing and playing the guitar. It gives them hope." Melendez was the keynote performer and speaker at the "One Spirit, One Church" youth conference sponsored March 1 by the diocesan Office for Catholic Youth Ministry at St. Mark's High School.
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