Chili funraiser heats up St. Paul's United in Harrowsmith

Jan 22, 2014

In an effort to keep the heat on at St. Paul's United Church in Harrowsmith, members of the St. Paul's Church Council held a chili dinner and silent auction on January 18 to raise funds aimed at replacing the two 20-year-old furnaces in the church, and to help pay for a recent $2800 upgrade to the church's elevator.

The old stone church, which is a Harrowsmith landmark, was built in 1919. In 1986 an addition consisting of an upper room with a kitchen, offices and a Sunday school room was built on to St. Paul's, and in 1990 an elevator was put in, making the church wheelchair accessible.

Sheila Anthony and Dan Hole organized the chili fundraiser and an army of volunteers worked in the kitchen serving up numerous batches of homemade chili, Caesar salad and home-made sweets as diners perused the wide selection of items for auction. These included numerous gift baskets, gift certificates, games and toys, sporting goods, home-made comestibles, and arts and crafts, all of which were donated by businesses and individuals from the community. Diners also enjoyed live musical entertainment courtesy of Brittany Smith and Meryem Venkirane.

Sheila Anthony said it came as no surprise that both furnaces in the church needed to be replaced this year.

“They've been hit and miss and working off and on for the last couple of years, which is something that we just can't have here. We knew that is was just a matter of time before both needed to be replaced.” Replacing the furnaces will cost $7,000, and Sheila said that the funds for that cost plus the additional $2,800 for the elevator upgrade will come wholly from community fundraisers. Other upgrades at the church this year will the refurbishing of two stained glass windows, which will be made possible by funds put aside in memoriam for Fergus Brown, a member of the congregation who passed away last year. Mark Thompson of Verona will be refurbishing the windows and a dedication ceremony will be held at the church later in March.

The church is used by a number of community groups.

Reverend Patsy Henry, who has been leading both congregations of the Harrowsmith-Verona Pastoral charge for the last two and a half years, said that it is the local church community who enable the church to keep its doors open year after year.

“Whenever there is a need to be filled, people just arrive and do what needs to be done. We're so grateful to the community for their ongoing support,” she said.

Glenna Lewers is one of those individuals and she was busy washing dishes at the event. She was married at the church 55 years ago and has been a member even longer.

“This is a very special place for me and it holds a lot of memories,” she said.

Suzanne Hoag and Marni Pedersen, who head up the Sunday school program at the church, said that this year their group raised funds for the Verona Community Association's Christmas for Kids program, the local food bank, emergency relief, and also helped provide 40 Christmas hampers to families in the community.

The next fundraiser at St. Paul's will be a turkey dinner on Saturday, March 1.