A couple of things have happened here at St. Joseph’s over the past several weeks that should receive some wider recognition. First, thanks to the Donner family and Region Welding, and at the prompting of the Dinner Auction Committee, new hand-railings have been installed in the sanctuary of our church to make it more accessible to those who require a little additional stability on the stairs. Just so that you’re aware, while the railings have been anchored into the floor, thanks to the kindness of Whitey Schroeder, and as a result they should be a stable aid for traversing the stairs, they’re not set in concrete and shouldn’t be yanked or pulled on too hard. Thank you!

Second, the St. Joseph’s Road Rally/Scavenger Hunt and Pig Roast took place last Saturday afternoon and evening to great acclaim and success. Everyone who participated in the scavenger hunt enjoyed themselves and expressed their desire to do it again next year. There’s a nine-minute slide show floating around that details the different groups fulfilling the demands of the scavenger hunt, so check that out if you get the chance. A big thank-you to Christine and Chuck Brinkman and Sarah and Greg Johnson for everything they did to pull off this new event – it was a lot of work, but the results were even better than expected! Thanks as well to Lauren Straatmann for her five-hour+ labor in building and running the slide show complete with its own sound-track, and to all the PCD families who set up the event and prepared a wonderful dinner which everyone enjoyed immensely. Hopefully, this will be the first of many road rallies that will provide a fun diversion for our parish as well as raising the necessary funds for the education of our children.

Third, did you know that there’s a little less than seven months until the 2019 Dinner Auction this coming October? Well there is! The Dinner Auction committee met earlier this past week to begin their remote preparations for this year’s event. One big item that was discussed was the decision to set aside $70,000 from the last two Dinner Auction proceeds, and put it towards the tuckpointing of our church that is projected to begin sometime in 2020. Coupled with our Beyond Sunday total which now stands at approximately $60,000 we’re well on our way to accumulating the resources needed to begin this big project. To that end, if anyone is interested in making an individual contribution to our tuckpointing fund, an account is already set up for that purpose. A big thank-you goes to the members of the Dinner Auction Committee who work so hard to put on a quality event, and especially to everyone at St. Joseph’s who so generously support the Dinner Auction every year. Your commitment to our parish is inspiring to me.

Have a blessed week!