St. Elmo News

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thursday, December 11
• Lunch Bunch, noon, Mary Ann’s Restaurant. Those attending can take food or donation for the St. Elmo Food Pantry.
• The St. Elmo Library District Board, 7 p.m., St. Elmo Public Library.
• The Effingham Chapter #110 Order of the Eastern Star, 7:30 p.m., Effingham Masonic Temple.
Friday, December 12
• Gifts for the names of children taken from the Santa’s Secret Helpers tree at the St. Elmo City Hall have to be taken to city hall by this Friday. The gifts have to be unwrapped and the name tag has to be included. The tag can be inside of the box or taped to the top of the box. Monetary donations are welcome and can be taken to or mailed to city hall on North Main Street, St. Elmo.
Sunday, December 14
• St. Elmo Ministerial Alliance Christmas service, 6 p.m., First United Methodist Church. Following the service, refreshments will be served in the Fellowship Hall.
Monday, December 15
• St. Elmo Lions Club sponsors the Caring and Sharing program. Monday is the final day to donate Caring and Sharing items, which will be boxed for distribution on Dec. 20. For info, call Dave Maxey at 829-9729.
• The Fayette County HCE Board, 11 a.m., Vandalia Ponderosa. Instead of a gift exchange, those attending can take $5, which will be given to the Lighthouse Pregnancy Center at Vandalia.
• America Red Cross blood drive, 1-6 p.m., St. Mary’s Catholic Church.
Tuesday, December 16
• St. Elmo Lions Club Christmas, 6 p.m., Mary Ann’s Restaurant.
Thursday, December 18
• The Wheatland Unit of Home and Community Education Christmas party, 11:30 a.m., Ellen’s Family Dining, Farina.
• ExxonMobil Annuitants Christmas party, noon, Vandalia Ponderosa.
Friendly Neighbors Christmas Potluck
Ham was furnished for the Friendly Neighbors Christmas potluck held at noon on Dec. 2 at the Phillips Building. R. W. Smith gave the meal blessing. Others present were Malinda Miley, Bob and Joanne Owen, Rosemary Owen, Irene Reed, Marjorie Sarver and Mary Smith of St. Elmo, Marybelle Ledbetter of Brownstown, Shirley Smith of Altamont and Cora Miley of Beecher City.
After the dinner, they had a musical chairs gift exchange.
CCW Christmas Party
The Council of Catholic Women of St. Mary’s Catholic Church held a Christmas party at Mary Ann’s Restaurant the evening of Dec. 2. Mona Durbin gave the meal blessing.
At each place setting were candy, a snowman ornament and a Santa mug.
A short business meeting was held after the dinner, and they voted to donate money to Caring and Sharing.
Each officer was in charge of a game and gave a prize to the winner. Receiving Pat Porter’s gift of a box of chocolates was Natalie Stout; receiving Karen Denning’s prize of a hand-crafted snowman sign was Pat Porter; receiving Carol Rine’s prize of a lighted snowman was Mona Durbin; and receiving Mona Durbin’s prize of a big jar of candy was Libby Kessel.
The 13 present were Helen Bergman, Lamina Buzzard, Karen Denning, Mona Durbin, Libby Kessel, Lucille Koeberlein, LaVonne Kramer, Mary Myers, Jan Niemeyer, Pat Porter, Carol Rine, Betty Springman and Natalie Stout.
Wright’s Corner HCE Christmas Luncheon
Wright’s Corner Unit of Home and Community Education met at Mary Ann’s Restaurant at noon on Dec. 3 for a Christmas social.
Mary Smith had first invited them to her home; plans were changed, but she decorated the tables where HCE sat.
Others members present were Ina Abendroth, Carol Austin, Janice Garrison, Kate Jennings, Rosemary Owen, Irene Reed, Shirley Smith and Helen Wright. Betty Wright was a guest.
After the luncheon, they prepared Christmas treats for Aperion Care Center.
They also collected items for Caring and Sharing.
Garrison is the grandmother to twin girls, and it was reported that the HCE had fun discussing what twins do.
Women’s Civic Club Christmas Party
The St. Elmo Women’s Christmas Party was held the evening of Dec. 4 at Mary Ann’s Restaurant with the following present: Susan Belden, Karen Denning, Norma Engeljohn, Sheila Himes, Debbie Hough, Libby Kessel, Mary Jane Mattix, Mary Myers, Pat Porter, Anna Jean Rhodes, Liz Stoner and Carolyn White.
Denning and Porter decorated the tables with snowmen and Christmas napkins. Candy was at each place setting.
President Porter had a short business meeting following the dinner. The club voted to donate $50 to the St. Elmo PTO to help with supplies for the mobile art cart.
Some members attending took items for Caring and Sharing, and others made monetary donations that will be put in the Caring and Sharing account at Fayette County Bank.
A Women’s Civic Club committee decorates trees each year at the nursing home, now known as Aperion Care.
The trees were decorated on Dec. 3. Decorating the tree in the main area were Porter and Denning and decorating the tree in the Alzheimer’s unit were Myers, White and Neva Carter.
The Women’s Civic Club was invited to participate in the Christmas in St. Elmo parade of lights on Dec. 7.
White’s golf cart was decorated and she was to drive it in the 6 p.m. parade.
The fruitcakes, nuts and candies have arrived and are being delivered to the recipients.
Denning was in charge of a game – when she read a story of snow, each time the word snow was mentioned a bag was passed to the next person. When the last snow was mentioned, the one holding the bag was White and she received a cute several inches tall snowman.
For the next game, Porter passed out sheets for the nativity word search and the winner was Engeljohn who received a Russell Stover box of chocolates.
Denning then read an article, “The Week After Christmas.”
The club meets on the first Thursday, but because the first Thursday in January is New Year’s Day, the club will meet at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 8, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church Parish Hall.
Rhodes-Side Gleanings
My son, Steve Rhodes, and his friend, Scott Edmonds, both of Chicago, came the afternoon of Dec. 5 and left the next day before noon.
Saturday afternoon, they went to Vespers at the Kirkland Fine Arts Center, Decatur. It was performed by the Millikin School of Music, is one of Milliken’s most popular events since 1961 and was the 54th annual event.
Meeting them there were Scott’s parents, Richard and Carol Edmonds of Carlinville, and they all had dinner together.