St. Elmo News

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thursday, Sept. 29
• Exxon/Mobil annuitants, noon, Vandalia Ponderosa.

Saturday, Oct. 1
• A fall festival will be held Saturday and Sunday at Happy Hollow Farms south of St. Elmo. In addition to the u-pick pumpkin patch and a straw and corn maze, there will be fall crafts, kettle corn, pumpkin-painting and more.
Vendors for the weekend still are welcome. Private parties and events also are welcome. You may call 322-6831 for more information. Happy Hollow Farms is just two miles south on County Road 2250, which is just east of Pinnacle Foods.
• Steve Hess & Southern Salvation will perform for a love offering at 6 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church.
Sunday, Oct. 2
• After the 10:35 a.m. worship, the First United Methodist Church will have the annual picnic in the fellowship hall. To help cover the cost of the dinner, donations will be accepted. The meal catered by Martin’s IGA: fried chicken, pulled pork, mashed potatoes and gravy, noodles, corn, green beans, cole slaw, rolls, tea, lemonade and disposable tableware. Those attending are asked to take a dessert.
• Freedom Reigns in Christ Church is collecting recipes for a cookbook. Recipes need to be donated by this Sunday. For information, call Vickey Weaber at 615-829-4030.
Monday, Oct. 3
• The St. Elmo City Council, 7 p.m., Phillips Building.
Tuesday, Oct. 4
• Friendly Neighbors potluck, noon, Phillips Building.
• The Council of Catholic Women, 7 p.m., St. Mary’s Catholic Church parish hall.
Wednesday, Oct. 5
• The Wright’s Corner Unit of Home and Community Education, 1 p.m., Loudon Town House.
Thursday, Oct. 6
• The St. Elmo Business Association, noon, Mary Ann’s Restaurant.
• The Wheatland Unit of Home and Community Education, 1:30 p.m.
• St. Elmo Women’s Civic Club will have a program at Majik Hands at 7 p.m. To pool rides, club members will meet at St. Mary’s Catholic Church parking lot and leave at 6:45 p.m. After the program, they will return to St. Mary’s Catholic Church for the business meeting.
Fayette County Museum
The Fayette County Museum appreciates the following sponsors for the 2011-2012 Season of Entertainment & History:  Gloria’s Christian Supply, The Leader-Union, First National Bank in Brownstown, First National Bank in Vandalia and McKellar, Robertson, McCarty & Click Insurance Ltd. in Vandalia and St. Elmo.
The first presentation was the afternoon of Sept. 18 in the Fellowship Hall of the Vandalia First United Methodist Church.
“The Fall of the Sparrows:  Reverend Francis Springer and His Boatload of Orphans” was presented by William Furry, the executive director of the Illinois State Historical Society and was well received.
Furry recounted the fateful journey of several Civil War orphans in the winter of 1865 from Fort Smith, Ark., to Central Illinois. Army Chaplain Springer was an educator, minister and one-time neighbor of Abraham Lincoln.
A wide variety of refreshments was served after the program.
The next two Season of Entertainment presentations will be “The Koenig Family During World War II” at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6, and “The Illinois 130th Infantry During the Civil War” at 2 p.m. on Sunday, January 22.
Both will be in the Fellowship Hall of the Vandalia First United Methodist Church, and refreshments will follow each of the programs.
Tickets are available at the Fayette County Museum, which is open from 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 1-4 p.m. on Sundays. The phone number is 283-4866.
Historical Vandalia Inc. is in charge of the Fayette County Museum. The board met the evening of Sept.19 at the museum, with the following present:  President Steve Durbin, Betty Aderman, Donna Blair, Allison Magnus, Phil Shroyer and Mary Truitt, all of Vandalia; Marilyn Beyes of Smithboro; Barbara Buckland of Brownstown; and Anna Jean Rhodes of St. Elmo.
It was reported that there were 207 visitors in the museum in August, more than the 171 in August 2010.
Donations to the museum the past month includes a tin-type photo of great-grandparents and other old photos, 1861 newspaper, a woven rug and a book on American legacy.
The museum will appreciate the following donations from Bingham, Brownstown, St. Elmo, St. Peter, Ramsey and Vandalia: old movie posters, vintage needlework, Civil War items, Victorian items, yearbooks from schools in Fayette County and old fair items.
The museum welcomes volunteers, because the operation budget can afford to pay only one employee. In addition to greeting visitors, volunteer(s) are needed to type inventory in the computer.
Two board members will attend museum workshops in Peoria on Oct. 21.
St. Elmo Unit HCE
The St. Elmo Unit of Home and Community Education met at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 22, at the St. Elmo Public Library.
After the meeting opened with the pledge of allegiance, roll call was answered by naming a favorite foreign food, and several said pizza.
The major lesson, “Cooking from Your Cabinet,” was given by Anna Jean Rhodes.
After the lesson, the new 2011-12 program books with the theme “The Perfect Garden” were filled out.
On the back of the new book is The Perfect Garden, author unknown:  Plant 3 rows of peas – peas of mind, peas of heart, peas of soul; plant 4 rows of squash – squash gossip, squash indifference, squash grumbling, squash selfishness; plant 4 rows of lettuce – lettuce be fruitful, lettuce be kind, lettuce be happy, lettuce really love one another;  no garden should be without turnips – turnip for service when needed; turnip to help one another, turnip the music and dance; water freely with patience and cultivate with love. There is much fruit in your garden because you reap what you sow. To conclude our garden, we must have thyme – thyme for fun, thyme for rest, thyme for ourselves.
Refreshments of cookies and sodas were furnished by Rhodes to Neva Carter, Karen Denning, Joyce Drees, Mary Myers and Karen Wegscheid.
Jump for Joel Fundraisers
The Jump for Joel spaghetti dinner and auction held the evening of Sept. 23 at the St. Elmo Christian Church raised $1,585.
The Jump for Joel marathon race, which started the morning of Sept. 24 from the Pinnacle Foods parking lot, raised $4,261.22.
The total of $5,845.22 was raised for the Jump for Joel’s work at the Gathiga Children’s Hope Home in Kenya, Africa, with the focus on raising money for the food supply.
This was the third annual J4J fundraising.
Jump for Joel Board Vice President Lindsey Lash of St. Elmo was in charge. She, and the J4J founder, Shana Stine, have been in Kenya.
95th Birthday Party
A 95th birthday open house for Velma Bartimus Lilly, a former resident of St. Elmo who now lives in the Altamont Lutheran Care Center, was held the afternoon of Sept. 24 in the activity room.
About 70 people attended from Altamont, Beecher City, Bethany, Brownstown, Carlyle, Effingham, Decatur, Jerseyville, Mattoon, Robinson, St. Elmo, St. Peter and Urbana; and Polo and Lincoln, Mo.; and Ellenton, Fla.
Giving the party were her daughter, Della Stewart of St. Elmo, and granddaughters, Jill Stewart of Urbana and Cheryl Stein of Ellenton, Fla.
Served were chocolate, vanilla and angel food cakes, nuts, mints, raspberry ice sugar free punch and coffee. The decorations were balloons and mums.
Della kept the party plans from her mother until Sept. 19 when it started being in the area newspapers, so it was a surprise to Velma.
Guests wrote on decorated notepaper sheets to tell their name, when they first knew Velma and a special memory. The sheets were collected and put in a memory book for Velma. The notepaper sheets and book were made by granddaughter Jill.
New 4-H Year
September 2011 started the new 4-H year, and leaders have started enrolling 4-H’ers in projects. There are some changes for the new club year.
Each member will receive up to $5 worth of free 4-H materials for projects they enroll in. Members must pay any cost over $5 when they order their manuals. Club leaders will accept checks.
Each new 4-H member will receive a 4-H T-shirt when they join 4-H, courtesy of a grant from the Illinois 4-H Foundation. Members can draw the winning design for the T-shirt and win a prize.
Families are being offered the option of adding additional addresses to the 4-H mailings, so that everyone is informed. Families also are being asked if they prefer to receive the newsletter via email to save on postage or if it would be better to receive it via mail. The extra cost may be worth it to some families with limited Internet access.
Another change – the area 4-H world just got a whole lot bigger. On July 1, the four local Extension offices in Clay, Fayette, Effingham and Jasper counties teamed up to form Extension Unit 21. It means that any 4-H’er can attend any 4-H event in any of the four counties. The monthly – and sometimes semi-monthly – 4-H newsletter will list things to do.
National 4-H Week is October 2-8. The theme is “Join the Revolution of Responsibility.”  Clubs are encouraged to participate in the window display contest and to call the Extension Office to tell where the window is located.
The displays will be judged later in the week, but should be put up by Monday, Oct. 3.