Sisters welcome guests to Holiday Open House & Christmas Tree Lane

It was Christmas throughout the historic Nazareth Motherhouse Saturday afternoon as the Sisters of St. Joseph welcomed scores of visitors to their annual Holiday Open House. Visitors were also able to enjoy Christmas Tree Lane, a special event hosted by the sisters to benefit local nonprofit organizations.

(Take your time with this slideshow; it includes 33 photos from Friday and Saturday.)

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Many of Saturday’s visitors had also attended a special ticket-only preview party Frioday evening to get a first look at the 12 decorated trees that would go to the highest bidder in the silent auction that concluded Saturday afternoon.

All the proceeds from the preview party and the silent auction when to each of the 12 participating local charities.

To see photos and other details about the 12 trees, CLICK HERE.

During Friday evening’s party, there were hors d’oeuvres and beverages available, plus music provided by Michael Owens on the piano.

On Saturday, those attending were able to take guided tours of the historic Motherhouse and enjoyed music by the Licorice Sticks clarinet quartet, Max & Me and The Conchords.

The idea of Christmas Tree Lane, according to Holly Brown, the sisters’ assistant development director, is to create a fun way for people to support good causes at a time of year when many charities have an increased need. The event is not really about buying a tree, she said, but rather about making a donation to a good cause, with the beautifully decorated tree as a bonus.

The trees were provided free through a grant from the Community Foundation for Cloud County, and the Sisters of St. Joseph host the event as their gift to other local organizations that struggle with fundraising even as need for their services increase.

The organizations decorating trees this year, and the winning bidder for each, were:

• Big Brothers Big Sisters — Amanda Townsdin of Concordia
• Brown Grand Theatre — Robert Steimel of Concordia
• Cloud County Health Center — Faith Nyswonger of Concordia
• Cloud County Health Center Auxiliary — Jane Wahlmeier of Concordia
• Cloud County Relay for Life — Glenda Schreiber of Concordia
• Cloud County Resource Center — Linda Thoman of Concordia
• Domestic Violence Association of Central Kansas — Sarah Jenkins of Concordia
• Helping Hands at Manna House of Prayer — Keith Christensen of Concordia
• National Orphan Train Museum — Irene Brown of Concordia
• NCK Paws — Elaine Sedlacek of Belleville
• North Central Kansas Down Syndrome Society — Brent Vanous of Concordia
• OCCK Inc. — Jim and Susan LeDuc of Ames

The winners of Saturday’s door prizes were Marilee Gumm of Glasco, who won a stained-glass nativity set, and Shirley Moynihan of Concordia, who won a ceramic nativity set. Donna Schultz of Miltonvale won the candy jar by guessing the number of pieces it contained; her guess of 357 was closest to the actual 342 pieces in the jar.