Youths participate in a cake walk during Keokuk Catholic School’s annual Halloween Kids Carnival last year. Many parishes and schools throughout the Diocese of Davenport host a variety of fundraisers throughout the year.
By Lindsay Steele
The Catholic Messenger
Guests used to line up outside St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in Iowa City hoping for the chance to purchase freshly baked kolaches on bazaar day, recalls Terri Hein, who has been helping make the traditional Czech treat for more than 30 years.
While tastes have changed a bit over the years, the lightly sweetened, fruit-filled pastry remains a hot-ticket item. Volunteers from the parish bake and sell about 90 dozen for the bazaar in November, and 60 dozen for the fall dinner in October. The proceeds help the parish pay for church renovations, updates and supplies.
Fall fundraisers like these have been woven into the fabric of diocesan school and parish life for generations. Each dinner, bazaar, festival and carnival offers the faithful an opportunity to come together and find creative ways to raise money for various causes.
Star of the bazaar
Using a recipe passed down from Czech women in the parish, about 8-10 volunteers gather at St. Wenceslaus just after sunrise the day before the event to begin making the kolaches. “My mother-in-law was doing it, and when I was a newlywed, I started helping,” Hein said. “I learned how to roll dough and put fruit in it.” She is now in charge of mixing the dough and setting the ovens in the parish hall kitchen.
After letting the dough balls rise, volunteers create a well in each one and fill it with homemade cherry, apricot, poppyseed or prune filling. Cherry tends to be the most popular flavor, Hein said.
Kolache sales have helped fund numerous projects over the years, Hein said. “It’s wonderful knowing you can support your church in that way.”
Volunteers place homemade kolaches in containers in this file photo at St. Wenceslaus Parish in Iowa City.
Good times
Audrey Reed recently looked through old newspaper clippings chronicling decades of fall festivals at St. James Parish in Washington. Each one seemed to trigger a fond memory, like the bag of “monkey feed” that got donated and sold at the live auction every year as a gag. The nonagenarian doesn’t recall what was actually in the bag, but she knows for certain that “no monkeys were ever fed from it.”
Each memory seemed to recall a sense of community, of generations coming together to support the parish school through a meal, auction and games.
Reed, a 1949 graduate of the parish school, has helped out since the event began in the 1970s, and is now in charge of arranging flowers for the table centerpieces. “I had my granddaughter and great-granddaughter help this year,” she said.
Each year, parishioners step up to help, and each year, guests show up to partake in the festivities. Reed credits the festival’s success to the community’s commitment to the school. “They want to see it continue and keep the school alive and thriving and there for our grandkids and great-grandkids.”
Sealed with love
Sister Janet Heiar, SSND, learned all about canning from her mother and grandmother. “From (the time I was) little on, I’ve been picking berries or working in the garden.”
The religious sister recently celebrated her 60th jubilee, and has continued canning as a way to contribute to the annual fall festival at St. Joseph Parish in DeWitt, where she serves as pastoral associate. “From mid-August on, I spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen” canning jelly, jam and juice. Elderberry syrup, she says, is her specialty.
She isn’t the only one putting fresh produce to work. The festival includes a farmer’s market where parishioners can sell fresh fruits and vegetables, home-baked goods and canned items. “We get some really, really neat things — the last two years, we had to expand the area because we got so many more items.”
Farmers in the parish also donate fresh sweet corn for the dinner. Proceeds from the festival are split between the DeWitt Referral Center’s food pantry and summer lunchbox programs; ServeHAITI, a charity that provides medical care and other assistance in Haiti; and the St. Joseph Youth Group.
Seeing people come together for a common cause “is just the most special thing,” Sister Heiar said. “I’m a person who grew up going to different festivals. I saw how people served others, the hospitality that was there, and I just encourage that in the different places I’ve worked. I just pitch in — that’s what I do!”
Step right up!
At Keokuk Catholic School’s annual Halloween Kids Carnival, families from the wider Keokuk area come together to play carnival games, win prizes and enjoy tasty fair snacks like cotton candy and snow cones. The event, which takes place in mid-October each year, also includes a wide variety of silent auction baskets for families to bid on.
It’s the elementary school’s primary fundraising event. School families and members of Church of All Saints Parish in Keokuk donate their time, talent and treasure to making the carnival possible. “Each year, we invite supporters to donate new toys through our Amazon Wish List, with one simple goal in mind: we want every child in our community who attends the carnival to have a great time and leave with a toy,” said Shari Bozorgzad, head of school. “The response has been incredible, with donations literally flooding into the school in anticipation of the event.”
Bozorgzad said the impact of the carnival goes beyond fundraising, however. “It’s about bringing families, parishioners, alumni and members of the community together to celebrate, have fun, and experience the generosity and spirit that makes our school community so special.”
(Check the Calendar of Events page for any parish or school fundraisers near you)
