John Ebert guides his lawnmower driven, hand-made barrel train for children in front of the historic St. Joseph Church in Flush during the fundraiser to build an elevator, held Sept. 19. The church hosted a silent and live auction, games for children, beer garden and hog roast.
Aaron Jilka, age 8, does his best at the balloon toss, one of the games held for children during the elevator project fundraiser at St. Joseph Church in Flush. The prize for breaking a water balloon in the center of the target was a chance to blow an air horn.
Auctioneer Joe Wilson, directs the attention of the crowd estimated at more than 300 to a drill, held by fellow auctioneer Ron Walsh during the live auction at St. Joseph Church in Flush. The fundraiser netted around $17,000 for the parish's "Lifting All UpTo Share His Cup" project to build an elevator for the church.
Ron Ebert and his wife, Ruth, enjoy the action during the live auction. There were more than 250 items donated for the silent and life auction during the fundraiser.
Carol Lynn Eichman, center, enjoys the live auction with her friends, Glenna Lake, left, and Ellen Wilson, right. Wilson, the wife of the auctioneer, was bidding on an item made by Eichman.Published in The Leaven, newspaper for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas
Lifting All Up theme of elevator project at St. Joseph Church, Flush
By Paula Glover
Every Sunday at the small parish of St. Joseph in Flush, older parishioners struggle up the limestone steps leading steeply up to the front doors of the historic church.
“My husband and I both need an elevator,” said Jerry Ebert. “One day, he almost fell over on the steps. We don’t want to fall.”
Ebert made her comments at a fundraiser for that very elevator, held at the rural parish east of Manhattan and west of Wamego. Her son, Dan Ebert, echoed his parents sentiments, “my mom and dad both need it.”
The hog roast, silent and live auction, and beer garden held Sept. 19 raised nearly $17,000, said organizer Dale Magnett. The donation of the hogs and much of the food, made the event even more of a success.
“It was well worth the effort,” Magnett said, even though volunteers cleaned the parish hall until after midnight that night and still attended Mass the following morning. “Everyone had a great time, and it made people more aware of the project.”
More than 325 meals were served. There were 250 donations for the silent and live auction from parishioners and from the surrounding communities. A raffle for a car donated by a local car dealer brought around 600 tickets. A hand-made quilt was also raffled off with far more than 600 tickets sold. Organizers have held other fundraisers, including a garage sale, dinner theater and a softball tournament.
The notion of building an elevator has been discussed in the parish for several years. But beginning early in 2009, a new push was begun to raise the necessary $275,000. The current project includes an elevator with three stops and remodeling bathrooms to accommodate the handicapped. Raising the funds will be no small feat for the registered 128 families.
To date, around 60 percent of the families have pledged to the project, but so have 10 families that used to be parishioners, along with 14 families that are not parishioners, and around $125,000 was pledged prior to the hog roast fundraiser.
The parish is steadily making progress toward the meeting the archdiocesan rule that all the money has to be pledged, with half collected prior to the start of the work.
Deb Jilka, whose son, Brian, is a seminarian at Conception Seminary, said it is important to support the project not only for parishioners, but for people attending weddings or funerals who need to get into the parish.
Father John Pilcher, pastor of St. Joseph, has been a strong advocate of the elevator project, called “Lifting All Up to Share His Cup.” He said his experiences in smaller parishes has been that people are likely to work together and take responsibility for efforts such as the hog roast fundraiser.
“It is our Christian duty to help people who can’t normally get into the church,” Father Pilcher said at the fundraiser. “The people who are doing this work are working very hard and doing a superb job.”
Anyone who would like information on the parish’s fundraising efforts can call Dale Magnett at 785-456-1300.
Lifting All Up theme of elevator project at St. Joseph Church, Flush
By Paula Glover
Every Sunday at the small parish of St. Joseph in Flush, older parishioners struggle up the limestone steps leading steeply up to the front doors of the historic church.
“My husband and I both need an elevator,” said Jerry Ebert. “One day, he almost fell over on the steps. We don’t want to fall.”
Ebert made her comments at a fundraiser for that very elevator, held at the rural parish east of Manhattan and west of Wamego. Her son, Dan Ebert, echoed his parents sentiments, “my mom and dad both need it.”
The hog roast, silent and live auction, and beer garden held Sept. 19 raised nearly $17,000, said organizer Dale Magnett. The donation of the hogs and much of the food, made the event even more of a success.
“It was well worth the effort,” Magnett said, even though volunteers cleaned the parish hall until after midnight that night and still attended Mass the following morning. “Everyone had a great time, and it made people more aware of the project.”
More than 325 meals were served. There were 250 donations for the silent and live auction from parishioners and from the surrounding communities. A raffle for a car donated by a local car dealer brought around 600 tickets. A hand-made quilt was also raffled off with far more than 600 tickets sold. Organizers have held other fundraisers, including a garage sale, dinner theater and a softball tournament.
The notion of building an elevator has been discussed in the parish for several years. But beginning early in 2009, a new push was begun to raise the necessary $275,000. The current project includes an elevator with three stops and remodeling bathrooms to accommodate the handicapped. Raising the funds will be no small feat for the registered 128 families.
To date, around 60 percent of the families have pledged to the project, but so have 10 families that used to be parishioners, along with 14 families that are not parishioners, and around $125,000 was pledged prior to the hog roast fundraiser.
The parish is steadily making progress toward the meeting the archdiocesan rule that all the money has to be pledged, with half collected prior to the start of the work.
Deb Jilka, whose son, Brian, is a seminarian at Conception Seminary, said it is important to support the project not only for parishioners, but for people attending weddings or funerals who need to get into the parish.
Father John Pilcher, pastor of St. Joseph, has been a strong advocate of the elevator project, called “Lifting All Up to Share His Cup.” He said his experiences in smaller parishes has been that people are likely to work together and take responsibility for efforts such as the hog roast fundraiser.
“It is our Christian duty to help people who can’t normally get into the church,” Father Pilcher said at the fundraiser. “The people who are doing this work are working very hard and doing a superb job.”
Anyone who would like information on the parish’s fundraising efforts can call Dale Magnett at 785-456-1300.
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