St. Elmo News

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thursday, March 15
• Those who wish to attend the St. Patrick’s Day dinner at noon on March 17 at the Phillips Building are to make reservations by Thursday by calling Irene Reed at 829-5156 or Della Stewart at 829-3394.
• Vit-Em-In Sunday school class potluck, noon, First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall.
• A Telenet lesson, “To Soy or Not to Soy,” will be given at 1:30 p.m. at the Vandalia Extension Office. This is for Home and Community Education units, and the public is welcome to attend.
• The Friendship Quilt Club, 7 p.m., St. Elmo Public Library.
Saturday, March 17
• Royal Neighbors of America  #5784 St. Patrick’s Day dinner, noon, Phillips Building. Corned beef and cabbage will be furnished for those who have made reservations by March 15.
Sunday, March 18
• The Wolf Creek Cluster of United Methodist Churches Lenten service, 4 p.m., Funkhouser United Methodist Church, with John O’Dell the speaker.
Monday, March 19
• Historical Vandalia Inc. Board, 6:30 p.m., Fayette County Museum, Vandalia.
• St. Elmo Board of Education, 7:30 p.m., Unit Office.
Tuesday, March 20
• Spring begins!
• Remember to vote in the General Primary Election. Polls are open from 6 a.m.-7 p.m.
Wednesday, March 21
• The Prairieland Pickers will perform at Hillsboro at 10 a.m., Hillsboro Rehab Health, 801 E. Tremont, and at 2 p.m. at the Tremont Ridge Assisted Living, 1200 Tremont.
Thursday, March 22
• The St. Elmo Unit of Home and Community Education, 1:30 p.m., St. Elmo Public Library.
Future Announcement
The defensive driving course sponsored by the St. Elmo Lions Club will be held on Tuesday, March 27, and Wednesday, March 28, at St. Elmo Christian Church. The class will be from 8 a.m.-noon each day. For class availability and signup, those interested are to call Mona Stanley at 618-829-5437.
Friendly Neighbors
Present for the Friendly Neighbors potluck held at noon on March 6 at the Phillips Building were Cora Miley of Beecher City, Marybelle Ledbetter of Brownstown and Ina Abendroth, Bob and Joanne Owen, Rosemary Owen, Irene Reed, Marjorie Sarver, and R. W. and Mary Smith all of St. Elmo.
During the business meeting, they discussed taking up a donation at the April 3 meeting to give to the St. Elmo Food Pantry for the Easter hams.
The only program was a couple of funny jokes by Abendroth, and the remainder of the time being together was just visiting.
CCW
Roll call of “What is your favorite spring flower?” was answered by Karen Denning, Deb Hough, Libby Kessel, Lucille Koeberlein, Lavone Kramer, Mary Myers, Pat Porter, Carol Rine and Ann Rowland at the meeting of the Council of Catholic Women held the evening of March 8 in St. Mary’s Catholic Church Parish Hall. Hough was a guest.
President Rowland read a thank you letter from Pat and Judy Leach, who also made a donation to the CCW. Cards were signed for parish members who are ill.
The 40-Day Campaign for Life of the Effingham Deanery started Feb. 22 and will continue until April 1, when there will be prayers all day. St. Elmo CCW members were assigned an hour to pray wherever they are.
It was decided to have a potluck at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 1, for all the ladies of the parish.
Hostesses Natalie Stout and Lisa Niemeyer furnished the refreshments of pistachio pie, decorated cookies, cheese balls, crackers, nuts, mints, which were served with tea and coffee from a St. Patrick’s-themed table with St. Patrick napkins. The hostesses were unable to be present, but Denning and Rowland did the serving.
The next meeting of the CCW will be on Tuesday, April 3, in the Parish Hall.
Friendship Manor March Activities
The monthly birthday party at Friendship Manor Nursing Home is set for Wednesday, March 21 to celebrate the March birthdays of residents and staff. Residents’ birthdays follow: Marie Arnold on March 2, Pearl Branham on March 8, Louise Hamende on March 16, Delores Eich on March 21 and Dean Ritter on March 27. Staff birthdays follow: Jessie Bungard on March 1, Gina De Paola on the March 4, Alida Hebenstreit on March 14 and Glynis Wright on March 16.
Other parties planned for March are a St. Patrick’s Day party at 2 p.m. on Friday and a pizza party at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, March 26. The Singing Strings are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Monday, March 26.
Wright’s Corner HCE
The Wright’s Corner Unit of Home and Community Education met the afternoon of March 7 at the Loudon Town House, and the meeting was opened with the pledge of allegiance. Roll call was answered with “The best thing to do in March” by Ina Abendroth, Janice Garrison, Kate Jennings, Rosemary Owen, Irene Reed, Mary Smith and Helen Wright.
During the business, the February HCE Board notes were read.
Reed gave the special feature, “See the Future – Your Vision as You Age,” and the major lesson, “The Cost of Managing Your Money.” Discussion was held on both lessons.
Lunch Bunch
A very small group was able to attend the Lunch Bunch meeting held at noon March 8 at Mary Ann’s Restaurant. They were Susie Pollock and Pat Porter of Farina and Karen Denning, Mary Harrison, Mark and Jennie Ann Heischmidt, and Sue Stites, all of St. Elmo.
The next meeting will be at noon on Thursday, April 12, at Mary Ann’s Restaurant. For several years, they have been having an April Fools gift exchange, but have decided not to do the gift exchange this year.
Polio Survivors and Friends
Polio Survivors and Friends of East Central Illinois had the first meeting in 2012 at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Sarah Bush Lincoln Education Center, Mattoon.
Those attending were Marian Martin and Bill Wendling of Altamont; Lee and Delores Hopper of Sullivan; John and Teresa Flinn of Wheeler; Betty Anderson, Annie Barber, Glee Helms, Dawn Maple and Mary Lou Replogle, all of Charleston; and Anna Jean Rhodes of St. Elmo.
A program “Dysphagia,” was given by Karen Roley, a licensed speech pathologist at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System, Mattoon.
The medical term for any difficulty or discomfort when swallowing is dysphagia. A normal swallow takes place in four stages and involves 25 different muscles and five different nerves.
If a person finds it difficult to swallow, the problem can occur at any one or more of four stages and each stage has different problems and symptoms. Roley answered questions.
A major polio epidemic in the mid-20th century left many survivors with a wide variety of physical limitations including problems swallowing food.
After the program, many shared their experiences since the last meeting of the group, the December social dinner held at Ryan’s in Effingham.
Before the meeting, those who ate lunch at the Airport Restaurant were Anderson, Helms, Martin, Replogle, Rhodes and Wendling.
The next monthly meetings of Polio Survivors and Friends will be on the first Saturday of the month.
The April meeting will be on April 7 at Sarah Bush Lincoln Education Center, and anyone interested is invited to attend.