Faithful service ■
From fundraisers to wedding receptions, St. Michael’s Altar Society is there to lend a helping hand
By Ann Bailey
Special Features Staff Writer
Throughout the year, St. Michael’s Altar Society members cook up ways to make money for their church. The group of church women hold bazaars, suppers and luncheons to raise funds, which they donate to the St. Michael’s Church general fund. The altar society members also serve at wedding receptions and funeral lunches. There is a fee for the wedding receptions but no charge for the funeral lunches. All the women who belong to St. Michael’s church are considered members, said Bernie Altendorf, Altar Society president. Although the altar society’s active members include a few women who are in their 40s and 50s, the majority of them are aged 60 and older. Altendorf has been an altar society member since 1964 when she joined the parish. Besides raising money for the church, altar society members also are responsible for keeping the church neat, Altendorf said. St. Michael’s Church has a janitor to do the heavy cleaning, but the St. Michael’s Altar Society members do the light, dayto-day tidying up. The members have a feeling of pride for their church. “It’s one of those old traditional churches you always hear people talking about,” Altendorf said.
Fundraisers
When it comes to raising money for the church, one of the altar society’s most popular fundraisers is the annual soup and pie supper held in February. More than 200 attended the one held last month, which featured chicken noodle, vegetable beef and chicken dumpling soup. The day before the supper the women cut up fresh vegetables, including cab-
Fit feet
It’s time to junk unwanted mail ■
Elderly and retired people are finding themselves deluged with junk mail
By Ann Bailey
Special Features Staff Writer
Jackie Lorentz, Special Features staff photographer
Working in the basement of St. Michael’s church, the St. Michael’s Altar Society ladies make three kinds of soups for their annual homemade soup supper held in February. Some of the Altar Society members that head up the soup supper are JoAnn Brown, left, Sharon Paschke, middle and Angie Anderson, right. bage, carrots and potatoes for the 10 gallons of beef barley vegetable soup. They also make 15 gallons of chicken noodle and 25 gallons of chicken dumpling. “Chicken dumpling is our biggest seller,” said JoAnn Brown, who was in charge of the supper. Brown, who has belonged to the Altar Society for 54 years, is a veteran chef and cooked at restaurants for many years. Altar society members also donate about 45 pies, including berry, apple and various types of cream, for the soup supper. When the altar society hosts its annual fall dinner in October, the number of pies more than double. “When we have our fall supper we have over 100 pies coming,” Alterndorf said. During the past two years the members also have sold homemade donuts at the supper. They make the donuts in the church basement from a recipe of
Stop junk mail before it starts. That’s the advice of Grand Forks Senior Citizens Association outreach coordinator Joyce Austin. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by junk mail because it piles up quickly, she said. Statistics show that on average, each person in the United States receives between 40 and 50 pounds of junk mail annually. Some elderly people receive much more mail than that and Austin has witnessed piles of it in people’s homes. It can include magazine subscription requests, political party polls, appeals from religious organization, solicitations and even requests for donations from senior organizations. Much of the junk mail is the result of direct marketing campaigns, and the senders get people’s names in a variety of ways. One of the most common is warranty cards shoppers fill out after they purchase a
new product, Austin said. When people fill out the cards they share personal information that includes their names, income levels and addresses. In most cases, the sales receipt is the only piece of paper needed for the product warranty, she said. Besides warranties, other places junk mail senders obtain a person’s name is when he or she buy cars or houses or uses shopping cards, signs up for credit cards, subscribes to magazines gives money to a charity or purchases an item from a catalog, according to the Web site of the Privacy Rights Clearing House, a private consumer organization based in California, located online at www.privacyrights.org
Keeping junk mail at bay
To avoid getting on lists, people should write: “Please do not rent, sell or exchange my name or address MAIL: See Page 2
Jackie Lorentz, Special Features staff photographer
Sister Annella Miller, left, waits to be served vegetable beef soup from Judy Jahnke, right, during St. Michael’s annual soup and pie supper. Jahnke is a member of the Altar Society, along with Posy Byers, middle, and Donna Baldock, far back. Brown’s. “We made 83 dozen,” Brown said. Besides raising money and filling a parish need, the altar society fundraisers are a fun social activity, said Sharon Paschke, a 25-year St.
Michael’s Altar Society member. “JoAnn and I enjoy coming down (to the church) and the fellowship with the girls,” Paschke said.
The Grand Forks Senior Association offers foot care options for seniors ■
By Ann Bailey
Special Features Staff Writer
Sometime’s it’s a feat to convince seniors not to neglect their lower extremities. But foot care is an important part of overall health, said Nathalie Dickson, a registered nurse who works for the Greater
Grand Forks Senior Citizens Association. At best, long toenails are uncomfortable and Dickson at worst can become ingrown and get
FEET: See Page 2
Jackie Lorentz, Special Features staff photographer
Jackie Lorentz, Special Features staff photographer
Peggy Kirk, a registered nurse, trims the nails of a senior citizen at Grand Forks Senior Center. Nurses at the center will trim and file nails and provide free general foot care for seniors.
Roger Thomas, a certified physician assistant, joined Dr. Sunny Kim of the Central Minnesota Spine Center and is currently seeing patients at RiverView Clinic in Crookston and East Grand Forks. Roger has over 25 years experience in orthopaedic care, focusing primarily on low back care for the last ten years.
www.riverviewhealth.org
Joyce Austin, outreach specialist for the Greater Grand Forks Senior Citizens Association, helps senior citizens find someone to sort through their mail. Austin holds a couple of weeks’ worth of mail collected by a Grand Forks County resident.
East Grand Forks 1428 Central Avenue NE
Crookston 323 S Minnesota Street