Catholic Service Board helps Kahl Home

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By Anne Marie Amacher
The Catholic Messenger

DAVENPORT — Although the annual bazaar is still two months away at the Kahl Home, residents and volunteers are busy preparing for the event. Catholic Service Board members sponsor the bazaar, which will be Oct. 14. They also volunteer in various capacities at the Kahl Home and operate Cinderella’s Cellar resale shop that raises money for the home.

Anne Marie Amacher Catholic Service Board members Kay Perry, left, and Mary Ellen Olson decide on a pattern for Kahl Home resident Sylvia Heaton to cut for a project for the bazaar in October.
Anne Marie Amacher
Catholic Service Board members Kay Perry, left, and Mary Ellen Olson decide on a pattern for Kahl Home resident Sylvia Heaton to cut for a project for the bazaar in October.

Carol Harrison of the publicity committee said the group began as an auxiliary of Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Davenport. The auxiliary’s purpose was to visit the elderly and homebound. They also shuttled children from St. Vincent Center in Davenport to doctor and dental appointments.

Because of funding restrictions concerning Catholic Charities, the auxiliary separated and formed Catholic Service Board in 1950. It continued to serve the elderly and homebound and began to support The Kahl Home after it opened in 1955. “We are all volunteers,” Harrison said.

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Today Catholic Service Board has about 115 members and operates/staffs Cinderella’s Cellar. Money raised helps with unbudgeted items the Kahl Home needs, Harrison said. Usually $25,000 is budgeted each year for these needs. “We get a wish list from Rosalie (Thomas) and staff,” Harrison said.

“We are extremely fortunate to have the support of the Catholic Service Board to assist us to fulfill our mission of quality care for our residents,” said Thomas, the Kahl Home’s administrator. “Through their tireless efforts, the ladies assist with weekly programs of crafts, bingo, and provision of a sundry cart for the residents. Monthly activities they participate in include a birthday party, a cocktail party and a men’s only lunch and a women’s only lunch.

“Their financial generosity provides for outside entertainment several times a week. The membership will request a ‘wish list’ of items that Kahl Home would benefit from to enhance the care and daily lives of the residents that may not be in the operating budget. Over the years they (CSB) have provided funding for fish tanks for the nursing units, an in-house digital signage system for the televisions, vital signs monitors for all nursing units, special pressure-relieving air mattresses, resident transfer lifts, lift chairs, wheelchairs and Broda chairs, to name a few items. In addition to the new transit van donated this year, CSB has donated two other transportation vans in years past,” Thomas added. “We are forever grateful for the generosity of the CSB membership.”

On July 15, CSB members Mary Ellen Olson and Kay Perry worked with residents on items for the bazaar. Olson and Perry took recycled Christmas cards and traced shapes on them, such as circles and squares, and had residents cut out the shapes. Later, residents will make new Christmas cards by putting the cutouts on folded, colorful sheets of paper or the cutouts will be used as price tags for the bazaar. “The residents do it all for us,” Harrison said.

Cinderella’s Cellar information

Catholic Service Board operates Cinderella’s Cellar, a resale shop that supports The Kahl Home in Davenport. The shop, located at 230 35th St. in Davenport, is open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Phone: (563) 323-1923 and website: www.cindersellascellar.com. Visit the Facebook page at Cinderellas Cellar Resale Shop. Donations are accepted during business hours.


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