St. Elmo News

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thursday, November 5
• St. Elmo Business Association, noon, Mary Ann’s Reataurant.
• The Wheatland Unit of Home and Community Education, 1:30 p.m., Mary Ann’s Restaurant.
• St. Elmo Women’s Civic Club will go to St. Mary’s Catholic Church parking lot at 4 p.m. to pool rides to tour the new Effingham library. After the tour, they will go to Joe’s Pizza in Altamont for supper.
Saturday, November 7
• Fayette County 4-H Achievement Night, 7 p.m., Brownstown Elementary cafeteria. 4-H clubs are asked to take cookies/snacks/ desserts for refreshments; Fayette County Extension Foundation will provide beverages and paper products. Each club also is to take two centerpieces for its table.
Sunday, November 8
• Fayette County Extension Foundation annual chili/soup fundraiser, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Brownstown Elementary cafeteria. See additional info following these announcements.
• Sunday Night Live youth, 6 p.m., First United Methodist Church Parsonage.
Monday, November 9
• The St. Elmo Lions Club, 6 p.m., Mary Ann’s Restaurant.
Tuesday, November 10
• The Avena Township Park Board, 6 p.m., St. Elmo Community Park Centennial Building.
• American Legion Post #428, 7 p.m., Legion Home.
• Fayette County Board, 7 p.m., Fayette County Courthouse, Vandalia.
Wednesday, November 11
• The St. Elmo veterans will host the annual Veterans Day flag ceremony at 11 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial on U.S. Route 40, St. Elmo. Flags will be retired and presented to the donors upon inspection. The general public is invited to attend. Services will be moved inside the Phillips Building if weather does not cooperate.
• Reverb Youth 56, 5:30-6:30 p.m.; Reverb Youth 78, 6:45-8 p.m., St. Elmo Christian Church.
Thursday, November 12
• Lunch Bunch, noon, Mary Ann’s Restaurant.
• St. Elmo Public Library District Board, 7 p.m., St. Elmo Public Library.
• Effingham Chapter #110, Order of the Eastern Star, 7:30 p.m., Effingham Masonic Temple.
Extension Foundation Fundraiser
Fayette County Extension Foundation annual chili/soup fundraiser will be held from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. on Sunday in the Brownstown Elementary cafeteria at 460 W. South St. The charge is a free-will offering.
The menu includes chili or vegetable beef soup, peanut butter sandwich, hog dog, carrots and celery, beverage and homemade desserts from Fayette County Home and Community Education members.
Fayette County Extension Foundation is a non-profit organization which conducts fundraising in support of Extension and 4-H in Fayette County. Donations to the Foundation are tax-deductible.
Future Event
A benefit ham and beans dinner will be held Saturday, Nov. 14, at the American Legion Home for David Stewart, who has a medical condition and has not worked since the first of the year. It will be held from 3:30-7 p.m. and will be a free-will offering. There also will be a silent auction.
Veterans Day Flag Donors
The 2015 flag donors are: Audrey Plum, American flag; Gene and Janet Ireland, POW-MIA flag; Goodwin family, Army flag; Kay Hanna, Navy; Jeff Murphy, Marines; Kathy Spitler, Coast Guard; and Susan Jennings, Air Force.
Anyone wishing to honor a veteran with a flag can contact Bob Heckert or Ernie Myers for details.
Caring & Sharing Application Deadline Info
Applications for Caring and Sharing will be available through Nov. 15 at St. Elmo Foods and St. Elmo City Hall, and have to be filled out and returned by Nov. 15 to be eligible for Caring and Sharing Christmas boxes.
County HCE Board
The Fayette County Home and Community Education Board met the morning of Oct. 26 in the Vandalia Extension Office, with the following present: President Flo Allen, Panzi Blackwell, Shirley Klitzing of the Sefton Unit, Donna Blair and Evelyn Probst of the Bingham/Ramsey Unit, Dorothy Harpster of the St. Peter Unit, Anna Jean Rhodes of the St. Elmo Unit; and Carol Bridges, Ashley Davis, Joyce Mueller, Anita Smith and Debbie Segrest of the Vandalia Day Unit.
After the Pledge of Allegiance, Davis, the secretary protem, read the September minutes and Bridges passed out the treasurer’s report. Her report told that a check for $107.60 was sent to the IAHCE for the ACWW Mongolian Project.
Second Vice Rhodes reported the county membership remains at 110. She also reminded the members of the Fayette County Extension Foundation soup luncheon scheduled for 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. on Sunday in the Brownstown Elementary Cafeteria. HCE members will provide homemade desserts for the luncheon.
She passed around the Fayette County Homemakers Extension Garden Club program book that was printed for the 1975-76 club year.
Cultural enrichment Chairwoman Davis reported that the T-shirts collected can be used to make tote bags for Eden’s Glory to sell.
Family issues Chairwoman Blair reported that a baby boy was born to Tanisha Duckworth of Brownstown Oct. 6 – the first baby born to a Fayette County resident during the IAHCE Week Oct. 4-10. The mother and baby were not able to attend the October HCE meeting. The Fayette County HCE plans to give the hand-quilted baby quilt (made by Klitzing) at the Nov. 23 board meeting.
Program books for 2016 were provided; the units will fill out the books at the November meetings.
Past & Present HCE Officers Social
Twice a year, the past and present Fayette County Home and Community Education officers have lunch together. Fifteen were present at 11 a.m. on Oct. 26 at the Vandalia Los Amigos. They were present board members Flo Allen and Shirley Klitzing of the Sefton Unit, Donna Blair of the Bingham/Ramsey Unit, Anna Jean Rhodes of the St. Elmo Unit, and Carol Bridges, Ashley Davis, Joyce Mueller, Anita Smith and Debbie Segrest of the Vandalia Day Unit.
Past officers present were Evelyn Probst of the Bingham/Ramsey Unit, Dorothy Harpster of the St. Peter Unit, Mary Smith of the Wright’s Corner Unit, and Carol Oldham, Phyllis Pryor and Debbie Swain of the Sefton Unit.
St. Elmo Lions Club
Members of the St. Elmo Lions Club appreciates everyone who helped them have a successful scholarship annual fundraiser. Heath Bar sales were south of the railroad the morning of Oct. 24 and north of the railroad the evening of Oct. 26. A short supply of the candy is available at Mary Ann’s Restaurant.
The club emphasizes that applications for the Caring and Sharing program are available Nov. 1-15 at St. Elmo City Hall and St. Elmo Foods, and have to be turned in by Nov. 15.
After the close of the Monday evening candy sales, the following members met at Mary Ann’s Restaurant for supper: Charles Brewbaker, Dave Cox, Roger Fulk, Max Hollinshead, Holly Huffer, Bob Lowe, Richard Lowe, Le Mar Marchman, Dave Maxey, Al Nevergall, Dee Newberry, Rex Reeder, Lloyd Stanley, Bob Wells, Will Williams and Randy Wolf.
St. Elmo HCE
The St. Elmo Unit of Home and Community Education met the afternoon of Oct. 27 in the St. Elmo Public Library. Chairman Karen Wegscheid opened the meeting with all giving the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll call, “What is your favorite Halloween costume?,” was answered by members Karen Denning, Mary Myers, Anna Jean Rhodes and Wegscheid, and Myers’s grandson, Zachery Myers. Zachery’s answer was “Spider Man.”
HCE Board notes for the September and October meetings were read. The St. Elmo Unit is to provide four desserts for the Fayette County Extension soup luncheon this Sunday in the Brownstown Elementary cafeteria.
To help collect money for Pennies for Friendship, the unit decided to have a penny collection jar at each meeting.
Denning, Myers and Rhodes attended the Fayette County HCE International Night on Oct. 12 in the St. Elmo First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall and reported that the program on Italy given by Isaac Daiber, a Vandalia High School senior, was very good.
Myers gave the major lesson, “Health Insurance for People 65+,” and there was much discussion.
RNA
At the Oct. 28 meeting of the Royal Neighbors of America #5784, dozens of items were collected for veterans. The items were taken to the Effingham Veteran’s Office, which will take them to the Veterans’ Hospital in Marion.
Items collected were the following: socks, gloves, neck scarf, rain ponchos, t-shirts, shirts, a woman’s jacket, a woman’s blouse, a man’s jacket, sweatpants, hats, boxer shorts, cargo walking shorts, men’s belts, ladies underwear, shoestrings, sunglasses, billfold,  toothpaste, tissues, soaps, washcloths, lotion, razors, combs, hairspray, nail clippers, deodorants, cotton balls, playing cards, holiday CD books, candy bars, Christmas cards, writing supplies, magazine, flashlight and magnifying glass.
Additional plans were made for the ham and beans benefit dinner for David Stewart that will be held from 3:30-7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14, at the St. Elmo American Legion Home. There also will be a silent auction.
The November RNA meeting date has been changed due to Thanksgiving; it will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 1 p.m., at the Phillips Building. Final plans will be made for the annual Christmas dinner, which will be held at noon on Saturday, Dec. 5, in the First Church of God S.H.E.D. Reservations have to be made for the catered dinner. The cost is $6 per person. To make reservations, call Della Stewart at 829-3394.
Those attending the Christmas dinner are asked to take a non-perishable food or a new toy for the Caring and Sharing boxes.
Present for the meeting were Ruth Ann Lilly, Marjorie Sarver, Della Stewart, Betty Wright and Leona Wright.
“Make a Difference Day” was Saturday, Oct. 24. The RNA is required to do something for someone that will make a difference for him or her. Marsha Lilly-Wright, Jill Stewart, Terra, Emmalyn and Ethan Wright, Hadley and Alexziah Hagler and Tannor Wright took bags of personal and treat gifts to the area nursing homes; eight were taken to the Lutheran Care Center in Altamont and seven were taken to the Aperion Care in St. Elmo.