Two weeks in Kansas: A new experience for novices to share

The differences between Mary Preenika Dabrera and Monique Like Siswoyo are striking.

Monique was born and raised on the island of Java in Indonesia. One of five children, she left her home country in 2003 to study in the Netherlands for a year. Then she came to the United States, landing in Los Angeles, where she worked as a sushi chef, a retail sales woman and as a beautician at Macy’s. Outgoing and chatty, she laughs easily when English trips her up.

But there are also notable similarities. Did we mention that they are Sister Preenika and Sister Monique?

Together they make up the 2011-12 “class” of novices in the Sisters of St. Joseph. And this month they have come to Concordia after life journeys that have taken them literally thousands of miles from where they began.

Their two-week stay with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia is part of their education as novices to understand that the Sisters of St. Joseph extend beyond just their individual congregations.

About a dozen years ago, the U.S. Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph — a cooperative organization of more than a dozen independent congregations that share a “genealogy” that began in LePuy, France, in 1650 — created the yearlong “novitiate” program, in which novices from all the congregations live and learn together. The idea, according to Sister Anne Davis — one of two federation novice directors and herself a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet who lives in Los Angeles — is to ensure that novices have a foundation in understanding the congregation’s history and mission, and to have a “peer group” of other sisters about their same age and experience. (For a related story CLICK HERE.)

For Preenika and Monique, that means they have each other to share this journey in religious life.

Preenika (pronounced PREE-ni-ka) recalls meeting Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood, N.Y., for the first time about four years ago.

“They helped me to listen to the Holy Spirit and discern God’s call in my life,” she says, explaining what led her to enter the congregation as a postulant in September 2009. For the next year and half, Preenika lived with seven sisters in St. Patrick Convent in Long Island City, N.Y. By then she felt she knew God’s call for her: “I am certain that this how I want to spend rest of my life,” she said. She became a novice in the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood in May 2011, and last August she moved to Chicago to the house near Midway Airport that is the new home of the federation novitiate program.

While the Federation was deciding on a new location, Preenika had to wait to see where she would be going next. “I was dying to go to California,” she admits with a self-conscious laugh, “but I ended up being in Chicago.”

(She is not at all self-conscious about explaining the head scarf she now wears, laughing at the suggestion that it might have cultural significance to her. “It’s just fashion,” she explains lightly. She recently cut her hair very short and the scarf keeps her head warm in the Midwest winter.)

Upon arriving in Chicago, Preenika met fellow novice Monique, who first saw a Sister of St. Joseph of Orange, Calif., in a hospital lobby wearing a business suit. “I was surprised,” Monique recalls. “I never saw a sister wearing regular clothes.”

In fact, at the home in Java, Monique rarely saw sisters at all. There Catholic women religious live monastic lives in convents — and in habits — and do not reach out to the “neighbor” with apostolic works like Sisters of St. Joseph do.

And a life of reaching out to serve God and the people appealed to her; in July 2010, Monique entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange as a postulant. In August 2011, she, too, moved to Chicago to be a part of the federation novitiate program. And the eight-month program includes their two-week stay in Concordia at Manna House of Prayer, where classroom work has focused on Ignatian spirituality, mysticism, centering prayer and the spirit of the Sisters of St. Joseph, among other topics.

But the Concordia sisters planned the schedule to include regular breaks from the classroom. There have been trips to very rural communities, a chance to volunteer at a local women’s center, being part of a packed house for a performance by the U.S. Air Force “Brass in Blue” band, a stint in the communal kitchen to create a supper of Asian cuisine and even a showing of  “The Wizard of Oz.”

“There’s just been a nice rhythm to the days,” said Sister Bernadette Dean, the other federation vocation director and a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph who lives in Nazareth, Mich. “We focus here (in the classroom) and then we are able to go out and experience Kansas.”

And that has been quite an experience for Preenika and Monique, who have always lived in much more urban environments. When asked if she could live someplace like Concordia, Preenika says yes — but first she would have to learn to drive; she has always lived where she can rely solely on public transportation.

When Monique is asked if she could live in a city of 5,000 population, her response is one of surprise: “That many?” she asks before breaking into laughter. “Where are they all?”

She may have a chance to meet a few more Concordians before she and Preenika, along with Sisters Anne and Bernadette, all head back to Chicago. Their novitiate program continues until May, when Monique will go back to Orange, Calif., and Preenika will return to the sisters of Brentwood, N.Y.

Monique will then begin preparation for professing her first vows, and expects that ceremony to be in July. Preenika has another year as a novice but expects to profess her vows in 2013.

They each understand that this is a different journey than that taken by most women in today’s world. But they are also clear that this is a journey that they are called to, and that fits them.

“Everyone asks, ‘Why do you want to be a sister?’” Preenika says. “No matter how I tried to answer it, people are not satisfied with my answers. If I tell them, ‘God loves me so much, so I want to serve God’s people and bring them closer to God,’ they don’t understand it. (But now) I am sharing my life with people who understand me well.”

Or, as Monique explains, “I see God’s people from many different backgrounds and challenge myself for opening my heart to create spaces for them. I love being a part of this inclusive community of God’s great love.”

 

 

Sisters bring immigration rights advocates together

 

Just days after Catholic bishops had convened a national conference in Denver on immigration policies and ways to move the issue to the forefront of political debate, a much smaller group of people from throughout central and western Kansas gathered in Salina Thursday to talk about immigrants in the state.

 

• • • • • • •

Nearly two dozen Catholic sisters, social service workers and other citizens took part in the “Conversation about Immigration” organized by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia. They had been invited by Cheryl Lyn Higgins, the coordinator of Neighborhood Initiatives, an office within the Concordia congregation that is working with the sisters’ Immigration Committee.

Higgins said this meeting — and a second one scheduled for March 1 in Dodge City — were designed to “develop a better picture of what is available for immigrants and what needs to be done.”

Many of the participants brought to the meeting passion and a certain level of frustration over limited services, funding cuts and a lack of understanding among both politicians and voters.

“There are a lot of people who really do know our (economic) need for the immigrant,” said Sister Therese Bangert, a Sister of Charity of Leavenworth and a longtime immigration rights advocate. “But we have to be more effective in getting that message out. Maybe, eventually, our own self-interest will move us (toward immigration reform).”

Sister Therese was among those last year who lobbied against Kansas House Bill 2372, which was authored by Secretary of State Kris Kobach and which contained provisions modeled after the Arizona law — also written by Kobach — that is still being challenged as unconstitutional. The Kansas House voted 84-40 against pulling HB 2372 from its Judiciary Committee, where the bill was tabled indefinitely.

But, Sister Therese said, that does not mean Kobach has given up his agenda on immigration. “He has said this year he’ll divide that bill into maybe nine little bills that won’t attract that much attention,” she said.

Sister Mary Ellen Loch of the Congregation of St. Joseph in Wichita said that educating laypeople of all faiths remains a crucial element.

While the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph and numerous individual church organizations and religious communities – including the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia — have called for national immigration reform, Sister Mary Ellen said, “The people (of the Church) have to see this as an issue for all of us. We’re not going to change anything until we change the spiritual attitude of the people.”

(TO READ MORE ABOUT THE SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH OF CONCORDIA’S STANCE ON IMMIGRATION, CLICK HERE.)

Cynthia Colbert, executive director of Catholic Charities in Wichita, said that after people are educated about the issue, they can apply political pressure. But, she noted, that takes money.

“We need a political action committee, we need a lobbyist,” she said. “Right now there’s no unified organization to get people calling legislators.”

Colbert added that while there are many Kansans in support of national immigration reform, there are also some who stand adamantly opposed to that position. “We’ve got to speak to those in the middle,” she said. “We’ve got to help them understand why this issue is so important to us, as people of faith and as Americans.”

Sister Judy Stephens, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia’s Immigration Committee, said that people in Wichita and other cities across Kansas need also to understand that services for immigrants are mostly limited to urban areas – despite the need for them in rural, agricultural areas where many new immigrants may work. “There is a Hispanic, Spanish-speaking family in virtually every little town, and yet there are no bilingual services outside of Salina, Wichita and Topeka,” Sister Judy said.

A Concordia resident who is fluent in Spanish, Sister Judy frequently provides informal translation services for people in the Concordia area.

Higgins said the sisters’ Immigration Committee will take all the comments and information gathered at Thursday’s meeting — and well as information from the upcoming Dodge City session — and compile it, “to see what steps we can take.” The goal, she said, is to find ways to work together collectively.

 

 

 

Sisters call for compassionate immigration reform

In a brief but powerful “celebration” Friday afternoon, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia joined other groups across the nation in calling for compassionate and comprehensive national immigration policy reform.

• • • • • • •

The sisters took the opportunity of National Migration Week, proclaimed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to publicly release their “Statement on Immigration” that was unanimously accepted by the women’s religious order two months ago.

At the Sisters of St. Joseph Senate in November, the congregation calls for a national immigration policy that includes:

• A pathway to lawful permanent residency and citizenship for the undocumented persons currently living in the United States;
• A process to reduce the backlog of family visas in order to ensure family unity and reunification;
• A guest worker program that ensures labor protections and equitable wages;
• A border security and enforcement policy that is humane; and
• A process whereby undocumented students living in the United States can earn a college degree and become gainfully employed.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the U.S. Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, as well as numerous other religious communities, have supported similar proclamations.

TO READ THE COMPLETE STATEMENT, CLICK HERE.

Sister Esther Pineda, a member of the congregation’s Immigration Committee and director of the Justice and Peace Center in Salina, began the half-hour ceremony by noting that the theme of the national week was “Welcoming Christ in the migrant.”

“The Sisters of St. Joseph offer a welcoming hand to the immigrant in our midst,” she said. “Being concerned for the least among us is the … cornerstone of the Sisters of St. Joseph.”

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF SISTER ESTHER’S FULL INTRODUCTION, CLICK HERE.

As the ceremony continued, sisters lit candles and quoted Scripture and their congregational Constitution in support of their stance in the Enactment Statement.

A special guest for the ceremony was Ana Aquirre-Brown, whose family fled war-torn Guatemala in the early 1980s and came to Concordia as part of the “sanctuary movement.” They first arrived at Manna House of Prayer in Concordia, and were supported by the Sisters of St. Joseph while they established themselves here. Ana, who was born in the United States and now lives with her husband in Minneapolis, Kan., spoke of the sisters’ generosity and kindness to her family. “I just want to thank you,” she said, fighting back tears.

Sister Marcia Allen, president of the Concordia congregation, closed the ceremony with a short speech that recapped the sisters’ history of taking a stand to do the right thing, even when it was unpopular. She said the sisters are committed to working toward immigration policy reform, collaborating with other immigration rights advocates where appropriate and helping immigrants already in the United States.

“We know that legislation is necessary,” Sister Marcia said, “and it will take a great deal of conversation and compromise to bring about fair policies for immigrants.”

But in the meantime, she added, “We will care for those who already find themselves here and we will do what we can to see that they are welcome.”

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF SISTER MARCIA’S FULL REMARKS, CLICK HERE.

 

Georgia woman joins congregation as agrégée candidate

Crystal Payment of Douglasville, Ga., became the newest candidate for Agrégée membership in the Sisters of St. Joseph during a simple ceremony Sunday (Nov. 20).

She is the seventh woman currently in the process to become an agrégée, a form of membership in the congregation that dates back to its founding in 1650 and that was revitalized by the sister in Concordia in 2006.

Crystal was received by Sister Diane Brin of Rome, Ga., representing the Leadership Council of the congregation, as well of her two mentors, Sisters Jodi Creten and Helen Mick of Atlanta. Also on hand was Dian Hall, an agrégée candidate who lives in Cartersville, Ga. The reception took place at All Saints Catholic Church in Dunwoody, Ga.

Crystal’s spiritual director, Father Bill Hao, gave her a special blessing at the end of the service.

The term agrégée — pronounced ah-gre-ZHEY — comes from the French for “attached to” or “aggregated with.” It is a form of membership in the religious congregation that dates back to our founding in 17th-century France, when Sisters of St. Joseph were either canonically vowed “principal sisters” or so-called agrégée or “country” sisters. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia re-established — and revitalized — this form of religious life in 2006. Today there are six women who have professed the vow of fidelity to God and to the congregation as agrégées.

Crystal and the other candidates will spend up to three years studying, both with their mentors and other members of the congregation, and ultimately  deciding if this form of religious life fits them and their spiritual needs.

For more information on the agrégée movement, contact Sister Bette Moslander at 785/243-4428 or bmoslander@mannahouse.org

Or, for an archive of all our news about agrégées, CLICK HERE.

 

Lunch group endorses Year of Peace for 2012

Those taking part in the 16^th Community Needs Forum “working lunch” Wednesday were fewer in number, but bursting with ideas about the future of the nearly 3-year-old process. They were equally enthusiastic about one of the best-known projects that grew out of the forum: The Concordia Year of Peace.

In recapping the idea behind the Year of Peace, Sister Jean Rosemarynoski — who has chaired the committee guiding the effort — said that when it began in September 2009, it was intended as a 16-month effort. It was expected to continue through the end of 2010 and to celebrate peace and teach about living a nonviolent life. When “Another Year of Peace” was announced for all of 2011, committee members committed to another year of regular columns in the Blade-Empire plus a book of past columns, radio commentaries on KNCK, peace-related films at Cloud County Community College and partnerships to help organize the National Night Out in August and the Peace Fair at the Nazareth Motherhouse in September.

The committee wants to continue its efforts into 2012, Rosemarynoski said at Wednesday’s lunch, and needs opinions about what Year of Peace efforts have been most effective as well as suggestions on how to move forward.

Earlier this week, she posted a short online survey to gather information. Anyone in Concordia or Cloud County may complete the survey, which is available at this web link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3CD5J95

“I really liked the National Night Out event,” said Melina Hemphill at Wednesday’s lunch. “It was something that really worked. We should do that every year if not twice a year.”

Holly Brown agreed. “The National Night Out was totally fun. We had three or four blocks, with people of all ages. It was nice to meet our older neighbors and have our kids meet them.”

The Year of Peace Committee and the Concordia Police Department co-sponsored Concordia’s participation in the National Night Out in early August. Some two dozen neighborhoods hosted block parties or other activities so neighbors could get to know each other.

Sister Betty Suther called the regular columns written by community members and published in the Blade-Empire “exceptional.” “They keep us thinking about peace,” she added.

Others cited a number of other Year of Peace activities as particularly important: The Civility Pledge, “Engage” book study and workshop, the Peace Fair (in partnership with other groups) and “Year of Peace Supporter” signs posted around town.

Sister Bette Moslander noted that since 2012 is a presidential election year, the Year of Peace could focus on” humanizing the political process — to help keep the conversation respectful and meaningful.”

Or, suggested Crystal Paredes, “Maybe we should change it up a little, so make it a Year of Giving for 2012.”

The Year of Peace Committee is expected to meet soon to consider all these ideas and information from the online survey, and then will announce plans for 2012.

The two dozen or so lunch participants also had ideas about the future of the Community Needs Forum, which started in the fall of 2008 with informal lunches with the Sisters of St. Joseph. Wednesday’s lunch was the 16^th meeting in the process.

“At the beginning, we asked you what was important to you,” said Sister Marcia Allen, president of the Sisters of St. Joseph, which has hosted all the meetings. “Now we’re asking you that again.”

Community issues raised during the meeting included homelessness as we go into the winter, drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence and challenges getting information out to the community.

The next working lunch is set for Thursday, Feb. 23, at the Nazareth Motherhouse, and everyone is invited to take part. You do not have to have attended earlier forums to join the process now. If you have questions or would like more information about the Community Needs Forum, contact Sister Jean Rosemarynoski at 243-2149 or sisterjean@csjkansas.org.

 

 

Neighbor to Neighbor receives $4,000 from QuiltFest

Volunteers and committee members were on hand Tuesday evening (Nov. 15) as the KS 150 QuiltFest Committee gave Neighbor to Neighbor $4,000 that was raised during the first-ever event in October.

Gerry Pounds of Glasco, who came up with the idea of a quilt show to benefit the women’s center in downtown Concordia, presented an oversized check to Sisters Jean Befort, Pat McLennon and Ramona Medina during a simple reception at Neighbor to Neighbor.

The center opened in May 2010 at 103 E. Sixth St. and is operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia for women and women with young children. In addition to the three sisters, its staff includes a growing cadre of volunteers.

There is never any cost to the women taking part; all the programs are offered free, with funding coming from a handful of grants and individual donations. The QuiltFest marked the first time proceeds from an event directly benefited the center.

Pounds, who is an avid and experienced quilter, wanted to do something to help the center and more than a year ago began recruiting volunteers to put together an event. That group — which ultimately included Susie Haver and Tammy Britt of the Cloud County Convention and Tourism office, Sister Betty Suther of Manna House of Prayer, Linda Houser of Jade Travel, Marsha Doyenne of Fabric Essentials and quilter Bonnie Strait of Jamestown — developed the idea of the two-day QuiltFest held Oct. 7 and 8.

A total of 216 quilted items, including about 180 full-size quilts, were exhibited at the Nazareth Motherhouse and at Living Hope Foursquare Church in Concordia. There were also quilting demonstrations, a vendors’ hall, an evening social and a “quilters’ thrift shop” as part of the event.

The QuiltFest’s featured event was the dinner and quilt auction Saturday evening, where 20 pieces had been donated for sale. Those donating quilts were asked to give at least a portion of the proceeds to Neighbor to Neighbor.

Bidders ultimately anted up more than $6,000 for the items, and took home pieces ranging from a Northcott Flower of the Month tabletopper and a Baby Cat child’s quilt to king-size and antique quilts in an array of designs and colors. The featured item of the evening was a Harley-Davidson quilt made and donated by Sister Betty Suther.

On Tuesday evening, Gerry Pounds said the QuiltFest Committee plans another event in two years, but no date or details have been set.

Sponsors of this year’s event included the Knot-Tea Ladies Quilt Guild of Glasco, Cloud County Convention and Tourism, Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia, Stained Glass Stitchers of Concordia, Concordia Lutheran Church and Living Hope Foursquare Church.

A passionate advocate for domestic violence victims

Camey Thurner is quick to concede that she had a lot to learn when she began as an “outreach specialist” with the Domestic Violence Association of Central Kansas eight years ago this month.

Originally from California with a background in property law and subdivision management north of the Bay Area, she didn’t know much about nonprofit organizations or reaching out to people in need. And, she adds with a laugh, “I didn’t know Kansas so I really didn’t know rural Kansas!”

But one thing she had in abundance was passion — and her passion about the issue of domestic violence and the people who are its victims was clear Monday evening as she gave the final presentation in the 2011 Concordia Speakers Series.

Thurner was the eighth speaker in the series that began in February, hosted by the Sisters of St. Joseph at the Nazareth Motherhouse. About 40 people attended her hourlong presentation.

Thurner moved to Salina nine years ago to be with her mother, after her mother was diagnosed with cancer. When she started job hunting, she realized there weren’t many possibilities for her big-city background.

To help fill her time, she began volunteering at DVACK in Salina, where she did a little bit of everything.

“It took a very short period of time to see there weren’t many people volunteering,” she recalled, “and there weren’t very many people on staff.”

Before long, she was offered a job, first working out of the Salina office serving about 10 counties. Eventually, DVACK opened an office in Concordia and offered that position to her. She’s been here since December 2006.

In the small communities throughout North Central Kansas, she said, “My biggest concern is that people will never tell” about domestic violence — whether it’s abuse toward children, spouses or the elderly or disabled.

“What matters to the people I work with is that I’m here,” she said. “I don’t know all the answers, but I’ll help you find them. I know each person is different; a box to mark or a checklist to run through doesn’t work.”

Thurner emphasized that every person she meets with is given complete confidentiality, and she recognizes that survivors of abuse may struggle to trust anyone.

“But they need someone who believes in them and who doesn’t tell them what to do,” she added.

Thurner, meanwhile, is sustained by her Christian faith as she encourages others to share their painful stories.

“God is my father, I am only here as his servant,” she said. “That’s the only way I can be present them when they talk.”

 

 

 

700 volunteers + 1 long day = 100,008 packaged meals

With World Food Day marking its 30^th anniversary in 2011, a group of people in Belleville, Kan., wanted to find a way to make an impact.

And the resulting event on Sunday, Oct. 16, was impressive: Some 700 volunteers from throughout north-central Kansas and south-central Nebraska arrived in waves at the Republic County 4-H building to assemble more than 100,000 meals in just six hours.

Tragically, the food will be sent to Dadaab Refugee Camp in eastern Kenya where the statistics are even more staggering: Twenty years of civil war and a second year of massive drought in neighboring Somalia have turned Dadaab into the world’s largest refugee camp. Population estimates range up to 450,000, with up to 1,300 new refugees pouring into Dadaab every day.

It’s those kinds of statistics — both of the people who turn out to first raise money and then to volunteer, against the specter of growing worldwide hunger — that led to the creation of Numana Inc., which provided the supplies for the Belleville event and will work with the Salvation Army World Services Office to get the food packages to Dadaab.

According to Jay Lewis of Numana, the Belleville event pushed his organization’s tally over 23 million meals donated to Dadaab and other areas in the Horn of Africa.

“Not bad for just two years,” Lewis says.

Rick McNary of El Dorado, Kan., began Numana as a meal packaging organization aimed at international hunger relief. Numana works with volunteer groups to organize packaging events and then provides all the food, equipment and supplies needed to package it.

To learn more about Numana, CLICK HERE.

The idea for the Belleville event began with the Republic County Ministerial Association, of which Sister Mary Savoie is a member. Other churches and service groups were recruited to join the effort, and those interested came together to form a steering committee, and to meet with Lewis and begin the partnership with Numana, at the end of July.

Lewis recalled that at that meeting, the discussion began with a goal of 20,000 meals but enthusiastic organizers had pushed it up to 100,000 by the end of the evening.

The group — with representatives from Republic, Cloud and Jewell counties in Kansas and Thayer County, Nebraska — named themselves Heartland Against Hunger. And their first order of business was raising the $30,000 needed to pay for the food that would go into their 100,000 meals.

Sister Margaret Nacke, who was a member of the steering committee, received a $1,000 donation from her congregation, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia. Most of the other donations were much smaller, but they came from groups and individuals throughout Heartland’s region, Sister Margaret said.

By the end of the day Sunday — just 80 days after that initial July meeting — the total raised was $32,567. The number of meals packaged reached 100,008.

The Belleville event drew participants from as far away as Salina, including about 10 Sisters of St. Joseph from Concordia, and it was just one of six Numana food packaging days this weekend, Lewis said. All were in relatively small towns, like Belleville, but he was excited about the turnout on World Food Day.

“There’s just energy here,” he said. “It’s fun to get to know some of these people and see how excited they are about being able to help.”

 

Charity auction puts finishing touch on QuiltFest

Bidders anted up more than $6,400 to take home 20 quilted pieces and support the Neighbor to Neighbor center as the KS 150 QuiltFest ended Saturday evening.

• • • • • • • •

The evening at the Parish Hall of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church began with a dinner for about 70 people, followed by an auction of pieces that ranged from a Northcott Flower of the Month tabletopper and a Baby Cat child’s quilt to king-size and antique quilts in an array of designs and colors. The featured item of the evening was a Harley-Davidson quilt made and donated by Sister Betty Suther.

The highest price of the evening was $825 for a queen-sized quilt named “Oopsie Daisy,” which was made and donated by Beverly Olson and quilted by Ann Houtchen. The first item auctioned garnered the second highest price — $700 for a queen-size quilt named “The Lady DeWinter,” which was made and donated Gerry Pounds of Glasco, who had come up with the idea for the entire two-day QuiltFest.

Pounds wanted to do something to benefit the Neighbor to Neighbor center, a sponsored ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph that opened in downtown Concordia in May 2010.  More than a year ago, she began bringing together people who would eventually become a planning committee for the two-day exhibit of more than 210 quilts, plus a Friday evening social for quilters and the Saturday dinner and auction.

Quilters who donated a piece to the auction were asked to give at least a portion of the proceeds to Neighbor to Neighbor, and proceeds from all the other events will also go to the women’s center in downtown Concordia.

Tammy Britt of the Cloud County Tourism and Convention office, who was part of the organizing committee, said that an estimate of the amount to be donated to Neighbor to Neighbor should be available by Monday.

For earlier reports that include slideshows of other QuiltFest events, click on the links below:

Setting up the exhibits

Friday’s evening “quilters’ social”

Exhibits all day Saturday

For a special slideshow featuring samples from the exhibits, CLICK HERE.

UPDATE: CASA claims chili bragging rights

The winner of Thursday evening’s Chili for Charity is CASA (or Court Appointed Special Advocates), for chili made and served by Brown Business Services.

CASA was among 11 local organizations took to the streets… er, fire hall for chili bragging rights and the chance at a little cash. And Concordians turned out in force despite the last-minute decision to move the annual Chili for Charity event from the streets and sidewalks at Sixth and Washington to the Concordia Fire Department.

As the fundraiser began at 5 p.m., winds in downtown Concordia were gusting to about 45 mph, according to AccuWeather.

A total of $675 was raised, according to Sister Jean Befort of Neighbor to Neighbor, one of the co-sponsors of the event, and every organization taking part received a portion of the proceeds, based on how many “votes” each received. CASA was the top votegetter, with Neighbor to Neighbor coming in second and Big Brothers Big Sisters capturing third.

• • • • • • • •

Each contestant  offered a sample of homemade chili — some with fixin’s and others unadorned. A few even sweetened things up with after-chili treats of mints, brownies and sugar-coated doughnut holes. Also representing the Sisters of St. Joseph was Helping Hands, the food pantry at Manna House of Prayer. Many of the organizations had individuals or other supporters doing the cooking and serving for them. The other organizations taking part, with the “preparers” in parentheses, were:

• National Orphan Train Complex (Roberta Lowery)
• Big Brothers Big Sisters (Concordia Fire Department)
• Cloud County Food Bank (Cloud County Community College)
• Club 81 (Resident Assistants)
• NCK Honor Flight (Bev Mortimer and USD 333)
• Fellowship of Christian Athletes (Scott Coppoc)
• Bentley’s Buddies (Jared and Dawn Thoman)
• Bentley’s Badges (with two entries, by Doug and Holly Thoman and Justin and Mandy Davis)

Those buying tickets to sample the chilis received three votes to award to their favorite chili, or their favorite charity. The proceeds from the evening were divided based on the number of votes each organization received.

This year’s event was sponsored by the Neighbor to Neighbor center in downtown Concordia and Cloud County Community College.

 

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