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Tradition of community dinner continues

Courtesy Photo Jon Benson of JJ’s Catering donated food to serve 524 people at last year’s fifth annual Celebrating and Sharing Community Dinner. He also provided the serving staff for the event. Proceeds in 2016 were shared with the Boys and Girls Club of Alpena and the two co-sponsoring churches, St. Paul Lutheran and Grace Lutheran. Shown from left are Jennifer Digna, Boys and Girls Club unit director; Tom Lappan, council chair of Grace Lutheran Church; Paul Kiekiszewski, council chair of St. Paul Lutheran Church; Bradley Somers, Boys and Girls Club executive director; and Benson.

April 23 has been chosen as the date for this year’s Celebrating and Sharing Community Dinner donated by Jon Benson, owner of JJ’s Catering, and sponsored by the members of St. Paul Lutheran and Grace Lutheran Churches.

The event takes place at the APlex, with doors opening at 11:30 a.m. and dinner served at 12:30 p.m. Proceeds will benefit the Friendship Room at St. Bernard’s and the Foster Closet as well as both churches.

Tickets are $12 per person, with children 12 and under free. Contact St. Paul at 356-1658 or Grace Lutheran at 354-2640 for tickets.

The menu will feature baked chicken, sausage and sauerkraut, red skin garlic mashed potatoes/gravy, carrots, green beans, cole slaw, rolls and dessert.

The dinner also includes a silent auction, Chinese raffle, 5/50 drawing, door prizes and pick-a-pie silent auction.

Already the dinner has a history associated with it. St. Paul’s experienced a “split” in membership in 2010 followed by the death of its pastor, Rev. Rodney Hasselhuhn. Soon after, Rev. Tom Orth became the interim pastor and provided direction and guidance for working through the losses and rediscovering ELCA’s mission of “always being made new” and by renewing St. Paul’s mission statement of celebrating and sharing God’s love.

In 2012, St. Paul members Tina Chrzan and Janice Boboltz were asked by Gary and Barb Spragg to co-chair a meal that Benson wanted to donate to support the church in its mission. With Orth’s continued leadership, the first dinner was held with proceeds distributed to Sunday Supper at Trinity Episcopal Church and a Community Vacation Bible School Program , in addition to St. Paul.

In 2013, Rev. Shirley Ross-Jones, the new pastor at St. Paul, provided the leadership for the second dinner. Benson expressed interest in donating another dinner to benefit the church and the community. Proceeds that year were shared between St. Paul’s general fund, St. Paul’s good samaritan fund that assists people in need and LARCC, the Lutheran, Anglican and Roman Catholic Consortium within the community.

In 2014, Benson expressed a desire to sell more tickets so a partnership with Grace Lutheran was formed for the third dinner. Proceeds were distributed to both churches, Huron Humane Society and Salvation Army’s Summer Youth Program.

The fourth dinner was held jointly again in 2015. Members, along with others in the community, enjoyed fellowship and delicious food together while raising funds to help to support the two churches in their mission to build up the kingdom of God by reaching out to help the community through service projects. A portion of the proceeds also were donated to the Salvation Army and St. Vincent’s Utility Fund for financial support to people needing assistance in paying their utility bills.

The partnership continued in 2016, and the ticket sales were increased by Benson to 600. Once again, it was decided that the proceeds be divided, this time between the two churches and the Boys and Girls Club of Alpena.

Courtesy Photo Jon Benson of JJ's Catering donated food to serve 524 people at last year's fifth annual Celebrating and Sharing Community Dinner. He also provided the serving staff for the event. Proceeds in 2016 were shared with the Boys and Girls Club of Alpena and the two co-sponsoring churches, St. Paul Lutheran and Grace Lutheran. Shown from left are Jennifer Digna, Boys and Girls Club unit director; Tom Lappan, council chair of Grace Lutheran Church; Paul Kiekiszewski, council chair of St. Paul Lutheran Church; Bradley Somers, Boys and Girls Club executive director; and Benson.

Courtesy Photo
Jon Benson of JJ’s Catering donated food to serve 524 people at last year’s fifth annual Celebrating and Sharing Community Dinner. He also provided the serving staff for the event. Proceeds in 2016 were shared with the Boys and Girls Club of Alpena and the two co-sponsoring churches, St. Paul Lutheran and Grace Lutheran. Shown from left are Jennifer Digna, Boys and Girls Club unit director; Tom Lappan, council chair of Grace Lutheran Church; Paul Kiekiszewski, council chair of St. Paul Lutheran Church; Bradley Somers, Boys and Girls Club executive director; and Benson.

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