St. Elmo News

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thursday, October 3
• St. Elmo Business Association, noon, Mary Ann’s Restaurant.
• International Night of Fayette County Home and Community Education will be held at the St. Elmo Phillips Building. Registration is at 5:30 p.m., potluck at 6 p.m. The program on South Africa will be given by Kathy Brown of Vandalia. Guests are welcome.
• St. Elmo Women’s Civic Club will meet at 7 p.m. at the Vintage Sisters Repurposing Shop. After the program, the members will go to the St. Elmo Public Library for a business meeting and refreshments.
Friday, October 4
• There will be a bake sale at Friendship Manor Nursing Home for Carol Smith to help pay for her husband Carl’s final expenses. Donations of baked goods and customers will be appreciated.
Saturday, October 5
• The St. Elmo Community Clothes Closet, 9 a.m.-noon, First United Methodist Church Parsonage.
• Wright-Victory School Reunion final meeting will be held at noon at the Vandalia Ponderosa Steakhouse. Those planning to attend are asked to go early and hear what school memories all have to tell.
• Fall Festival will be held at Happy Hollow Family Farms. There will be booths from more than 20 craft and food vendors from 9 a.m.-7 p.m. and the FourGiven Quartet will perform from 12:30-3:30 p.m.
• Polio Survivors and Friends of East Central Illinois, 1 p.m., Sarah Bush Lincoln Education Center, Mattoon. Those who wish to each lunch together can do so at noon in the hospital cafeteria.
Sunday, October 6
• Fall Festival will be held at Happy Hollow Family Farms 1-5 p.m. Again, there will be booths from more than 20 craft and food vendors. Diekemper Photography will take fall pictures from 12:30-3:30 p.m. There also will be a Cutest Kids Contest; jars will accept donations, with the proceeds going to the Kinley Walker benefit. The Big Spike Hammer will perform from 2-4 p.m.
• Fayette County Home and Community Education has set Oct. 6-12 as the Illinois Association HCE Week. The first baby born during the week to a Fayette County resident will be presented with a certificate and handmade baby quilt.
• National 4-H Week is Oct. 6-12. Fayette County Clubs can participate in the window display contest; all displays are to be in place by Sunday.
Monday, October 7
• Red Cross blood drive, 3-7 p.m., at St. Elmo Elementary School. Any student who recruits a donor will receive a Red Cross item.
• The St. Elmo City Council, 7 p.m., Phillips Building.
Tuesday, October 8
• The Avena Township Park Board, 6 p.m., St. Elmo Community Park Centennial Building.
• American Legion Post #420, 7 p.m., Legion Home.
• The Fayette County Board, 7 p.m., Fayette County Courthouse, Vandalia.
Wednesday, October 9
• Reverb Youth, 6-8 p.m., St. Elmo Christian Church.
• Kid’s Klub, 6:30 p.m., First Church of God SHED/
Thursday, October 10
• Lunch Bunch, noon, Mary Ann’s Restaurant.
• The St. Elmo District Library Board, 7 p.m., St. Elmo Public Library.  
• The Effingham Chapter #110 Order of the Eastern Star, 7:30 p.m., Effingham Masonic Temple.
County HCE
In observance of Illinois Association of Home and Community Education Week, Oct. 6-12, Fayette County HCE will give a certificate and handmade baby quilt to the first baby born during the week to a resident of Fayette County. For HCE to know, a relative can call Donna Blair at 780-3541 after the baby’s birth.
International Night will be held Oct. 3 at the St. Elmo Phillips Building. Registration will be at 5:30 p.m., with the potluck at 6 p.m. Cathy Brown of Vandalia will give the program on South Africa.
Unit 21 County Extension Director Rachelle Hollinshead showed slides of South Africa at the county board meeting on Sept. 22 at the Extension Office. The information slides were from the state HCE.
Fayette County HCE decided to nominate a family from Fayette County for the state Great American Family, which will be announced at the IAHCE annual conference in March 2014.
Each unit is asked to nominate a family and received a form to be filled out. Forms should be returned to the County HCE by the November board meeting. The Fayette County family will be selected and the information will be sent to the IAHCE.
A project being continued this year in Fayette County is the collection of Christmas cards for veterans. Cards cannot have glitter or anything attached on them, they are to be signed with a name (no other writing on them) and given, without envelopes, to HCE at the November board meeting. The board also will take 2014 calendars to be sent to the veterans.
October, November and December Newsletters were given to the units to give to each member of the unit.
Present at the September board meeting were Flo Allen, Panzi Blackwell, Shirley Klitzing of the Sefton Unit, Dorothy Harpster of the St. Peter Unit, Anna Jean Rhodes of the St. Elmo Unit, Donna Blair, Debbie Segrest, Anita Smith and Joyce Mueller of the Vandalia Day Unit and Karen Hyde of the Wheatland Unit. After the meeting, Allen, Klitzing, Harpster, Rhodes, Segrest and Smith went to lunch at Lorenzo’s.
After the October 28 board meeting, past and present officers of the board are to eat lunch at 11:15 a.m. at the Vandalia Los Amigos.
At the board meeting was the scarecrow centerpiece that was used on a table at the HCE District 6 meeting at Mt. Vernon in August. The board voted to give the centerpiece to a former board member, Irene Reed, who is in Lutheran Care Center. Rhodes took the centerpiece to her in the afternoon and visited with her.
Lions Club
Those who wish to purchase bags of Heath Bars that make good items for the Halloween Trick-or-Treat night can mark Monday, Oct. 28 on their calendars. The St. Elmo Lions Club will canvas the city from 5-7 p.m. Those who will not be home but who would like to purchase the candy can contact any Lions Club member.
Another future event the Lions Club will sponsor is Caring and Sharing when baskets are distributed on Saturday, Dec. 14. More will be given on this later.
Beginning Oct. 1, the Lions Club will have members help unload the food truck when it stops at the St. Elmo Food Pantry the second Tuesday of each month.
Present at the Sept. 23 meeting held at Mary Ann’s Restaurant were President Dave Maxey, who led in the pledge of allegiance, Richard Lowe who gave the meal blessing, Don Crawford, John Crawford, Dave Cox, Pee Wee Denton, Roger Fulk, Max Hollinshead, Bob Lowe, Al Nevergall, Rex Reeder and Randy Wolf.
Royal Neighbors
A regular meeting of the Royal Neighbors of America #5784 was held Sept. 25 at the Phillips Building and business was charted.
There will be no regular meeting in October, because a potluck supper is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 19, at the Loudon Town House north of Wright’s Corner. Meat, beverages and table service will be provided. All are welcome to attend, but to make a reservation, call 217-343-1061 by Oct. 15.
At the dinner, items for veterans will be collected – socks, Kleenex, big handkerchiefs, snack food or any personal items. Items are needed for 18 men and two women, and they will be delivered on Oct. 26. Anyone who would like to donate any of the items can contact Della Stewart or any RNA member.
The next regular meeting will be held on the third Wednesday in November, Nov. 20, at 1 p.m., at the Phillips Building.
Present for the September meeting were Ina Abendroth, Anna Ruth Lilly, Marjorie Sarver, Shirley Smith and Della Stewart.
St. Elmo HCE
The St. Elmo Unit of Home and Community Education met at 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 26 at the St. Elmo Public Library. After Chairman Sharon Shelton opened the meeting with all giving the pledge of allegiance, roll call was answered with “Have you ever kept a diary?” by the following, in addition to Shelton: Loretta Heischmidt, Mary Myers, Anna Jean Rhodes and Karen Wegscheid.
The September HCE Board notes were read. The 2013-14 program book ended in September and the new program books will be January through December 2014. To finish out the 2013 year, a sheet for the three months was given to be filled out. Wegscheid volunteered to give the special feature on South Africa, and Myers volunteered to give the major lesson, “Calcium for Better Health.”
Members received the October, November, December newsletter.
Fayette County HCE International Night is set for Thursday, Oct. 3, at the Phillips Building. Registration is 5:30 p.m. and the potluck at 6 p.m. The program on South Africa will be given by Kathy Brown of Vandalia following the potluck.
Because six of the St. Elmo HCE members are members of the St. Elmo Women’s Civic Club, which meets the first Thursday of each month, they will not be able to attend the entire International Night. St. Elmo HCE will do the decorations, and some plan to attend the potluck. Other members of St. Elmo HCE plan to attend.
The unit received a form to fill out to make a nomination for the Illinois Great American Family for 2014.
It was reported that Shelton and Rhodes provided pies for the Fayette County Extension Foundation pie auction, Noma Moore made brownies and Karen Denning made cookies for the fundraiser barbecue held Sept. 7 at the Vandalia Rogier Park.
Rhodes gave the major lesson “A Vegetarian Diet – How to Incorporate Meatless Meals.” She also was hostess and served vegetables, pretzels, crackers, two dips, candies, sodas and V-8 juice.
The October meeting will be at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 28. Instead of meeting on Thanksgiving, the unit November meeting will be on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
Intermission
This is the 15th year Intermission has been held in the First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall for children after the end of the school days. Since it was started, the director has been Michael Springman, who has assistance from his wife, Joni, and volunteers.
This year, 20 children are registered with the average daily attendance of 14. A majority of the children are new to the program, but several returned for their second, third or fourth year.
Returning volunteers are Lana Potter, Barb Bail and Rene Edwards and Helen Koonce, who returned after taking a year or so off to see her grandson Connor Beasley’s games. Some part-timers this year are Kara LaMar, Richard Lowe (who was outside last week playing kick ball) and Dylan Myers. A former Intermission student, Malerie Nickerson, is helping this year to earn her Eagle Pride hours for school.
The kids have less homework this year, but they do like to play. A few more items could be used – jump ropes, hula hoops, kick balls, colored pencils, plain white paper to draw on. Donations would be appreciated.
Also donations of the following also would be appreciated: sugar free Kool Aid, fruit, snack cakes or chips of any kind (though Doritos are their favorite).