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St. Elmo News

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thursday, April 26
• Exxon/Mobil Annuitants, noon, Litchfield Chinatown Restaurant.
Friday, April 27
• Items for Boy Scout Troop #444 garage sale can be taken to the Phillips Building from 6-8 p.m. To help start the new troop, donations are needed, and anything will be taken. To schedule a drop-off/pick-up time, call Tamela Bartels-Polanin at 292-7373 or send an e-mail to stacyrocks78@hotmail.com.
• Prairieland Pickers will perform at 6:30 p.m. at Brookstone Estates, 1607 W. Fillmore, Vandalia.
Saturday, April 28
• Boy Scout Troop #444 will have a garage sale from 7 a.m.-noon at the Phillips Building. The items will not be priced, but will go for donations.
Sunday, April 29
• A Fifth Sunday breakfast potluck will be held at 9 a.m. in the First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. Following the 10:35 a.m. worship, the administrative board will have a special meeting for the entire church. A very important decision will be voted on by a secret ballot.
Tuesday, May 1
• Friendly Neighbors will have a potluck at noon at the Phillips Building.
• The Council of Catholic Women will have a mother/daughter dinner at 6:30 p.m. in St. Mary’s Catholic Church Parish Hall. CCW members are to take two potluck dishes. Women who don’t have a mother or daughter to take are asked to take a friend as a guest.
Wednesday, May 2
• Wright’s Corner Unit of Home and Community Education, 1 p.m., Loudon Town House.
Thursday, May 3
• The World Day of Prayer will be held at noon at St. Elmo City Hall.
• Because of the World Day of Prayer, the St. Elmo Business Association will not meet until this Friday, at noon, Mary Ann’s Restaurant.
• The Wheatland Unit of Home and Community Education, 1:30 p.m.
• St. Elmo Women’s Civic Club, 6 p.m., Ryan’s at Effingham. Those going are to meet at 5:15 p.m. at St. Mary’s Catholic Church parking lot.
Future Announcement
• The Parent Teacher Organization fundraiser will be on Saturday, May 5. In addition to a supper and carnival, there will be an auction on classroom projects and gift baskets. More will be given on this later.  
American Legion
The new American Legion building just north of the Legion Home has been completed and sidewalks poured. The building is for hospital and handicapped equipment – wheelchairs, walkers, canes, potty chairs, seats for bathtubs, hospital beds, etc., that can be loaned out without cost to those needing the items.
Call Doyle Beck, Xon Hanna or Ernie Myers if anything is needed.
At the meeting of the American Legion Post #420 held the evening of April 10 at the Legion Home, plans were discussed for the Memorial Day service, which will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, May 28, at the Veterans’ Memorial. Six new names will be added. The speaker will be a St. Elmo High School graduate, Lyndon Willms of Carbondale, who served 27 years in the Air Force
Those present at the meeting were Commander Chuck Bosomworth, Doyle Beck, Abe Cox, Clement Lilly, Richard Lowe, Xon Hanna, Ernie Myers, Jack Sproat, Max Watson and a new member, Wayne Lovett.
At the May 8 meeting, a slate of officers for the coming year will be presented. Officers will be installed at the June 12 meeting.
Avena Township Park Board
In charge of St. Elmo Community Park and St. Elmo Swimming Pool are members of the Avena Township Park Board. At the April 10 meeting, the members voted to do more for the park and not open the swimming pool this year.
The reason for this is that the tax money received each year is not enough to cover the upkeep of both the pool and the park. The yearly upkeep for the pool is expensive, and this year, for the pool to open, one or two handicap lifts legally would have to be installed.
The park needs much work – two old pavilions will be torn down and one will be replaced, so the park will have three pavilions; painting needs to be done; the bathrooms greatly need to be updated; and it is costing more this year to keep the park mowed.
With the tax money saved this year, the board hopes to get the handicap lift in 2013, so the pool can reopen next year.
The Rev. Jacob Barrientos of the Freedom Reigns in Christ Church was present and offered to have youth from his church help clean the park in May; this was accepted.
Board members present were President Greg Haslett, Buddy Mitchell, Ro Mars and Janice Russell.
Extension Foundation
In an effort to ensure that the foundations in all four counties of Unit 21 – Clay, Effingham, Fayette and Jasper – are equally informed of current policies, a meeting was held the evening of April 16 in the Effingham County Extension Office.
On the panel were Angie Barnard, executive director of the Illinois 4-H Foundation, and Karen Moore, tax issues and affiliate relations coordinator from the state 4-H Office, who spoke about the differences between the University of Illinois Foundation (UIF) and a community foundation, safety of the funds while in UIF, how to access funds that are in the UIF, ideas for foundation fundraisers, etc.
Also, Dean West, an Illinois 4-H Foundation Board of Directors member, was on the panel to share a local perspective of the foundation. West grew up on a cattle farm and was a 4-H’er in Southern Illinois, attended the University of Illinois and is the owner of West Financial Services in Harrisburg.
There were 28 present from the four counties. Those attending from Fayette County were Fayette County Extension Foundation board members Brian Willenborg of Shobonier, and Lynn Tappendorf and Anna Jean Rhodes of St. Elmo; Fayette County Extension Director Rachelle Hollinshead; Debbie Boley, secretary at the Extension office; and a 4-H leader, Jessica Beck of Ramsey.
Diane Rutland of Clay County will work one day a week at the Vandalia Extension Office as the community worker/4-H person. Judy Bingham of Carmi is the youth development person for Unit 21. Both were present at the foundation meeting.
Historical Vandalia Inc. Board
The Historical Vandalia Inc. Board, at the April 16 meeting held in the Fayette County Museum at Vandalia, wants the public to know that the museum would like to have hobby collections to put in the display cases, with the displays changing each month.
For June, the museum would like to acknowledge Father’s Day with collections of mugs, gloves, pipes, etc., so those who have items pertaining to fathers can call the museum at 283-4866.
The new upstairs lights that have been ordered and were expected to arrive April 18. Donations for the lights and installation are now being received; all donations are tax-deductible. Donations can be sent to: Historical Vandalia Inc., 301 W. Main St., Vandalia, Ill. 62471 or taken to the museum, which is open from 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 1-4 p.m. on Sundays.
Mary Truitt, president of the National Road Association, reported that the National Road office was recently moved from Greenville to Vandalia. It is in the Interpretive Center at 106 S. Fifth St., which is open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.
In addition to Truitt, those present at the board meeting were President Steve Durbin, Betty Aderman, Donna Blair and Allison Magnus, all of Vandalia, and Mary Ann Rhoades of Ramsey.
FFA Alumni Fundraiser
At the annual FFA annual banquet held the evening of April 18 in the high school cafeteria, the FFA Alumni held a pie auction to sponsor the FFA scholarships. The auction netted $985, plus a donation of $50, for a total of $1,035. The top-selling pie went for $120.
Pie buyers were Brad Wright of the Wright Way Simmentals, Clint Feezel, Stanton Stine, Brent Smith, Steve and Trey Wright of Wright Cattle Company, Bill Wagoner (2), Deb Philpot, Richard Lowe, Doug Aderman, Doug Thurnau, Ed Durbin, Jim Skinner of Michael’s Feed Store, Trevor and Tara Wright of Sixth Generation Wright Farms, Marsha Wright and Hailey Carson of Wright’s Quad-T Shorthorns.
Thirty FFA members and 85 attendees were at the banquet.
Vit-Em-In Potluck
Present for the Vit-Em-In Sunday school class potluck held the evening of April 19 in the First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall were Elizabeth Bail, Bob Cox, Rev. John Eisfelder, Frank and Delva Krost, Ed and Barb Lane, Richard Lowe, Le Mar and Billye Jo Marchman, Bob and Joanne Owen, Anna Jean Rhodes, and Jack and Marilyn Sproat and guests Dee and Leatha Newberry.
There was no business meeting or program, because at 7 p.m. there was a meeting in the sanctuary overflow room with the Embarras District Superintendent Randall W. Reese of Effingham and some representatives from the Prairie View and Trinity churches.
 

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