Judy Brummer poses next to her kitchen table set for Christmas, in one of the five homes which will be on a Dec. 7 Christmas Walk. DIETERICH - Members of the St. Isidore the Farmer Parish Council of Catholic Women are reaching out to help a family in India by welcoming visitors to come to their own homes at the start of the holiday season.
St. Isidore CCW will host a Christmas Walk "Showing Our Homes to Build a Home" on Sunday, Dec. 7, from 1 to 4 p.m. Tickets are $5, with proceeds going to build a home for a family in India who is sponsored by the St. Isidore CCW.
The Christmas Walk includes an inside tour of five homes in the parish, plus the Immaculate Conception parish hall in Dieterich. Organizers say there will be refreshments, music entertainment, displays of Nativity sets and Christmas table settings and raffle items. Maps to the five homes on the Christmas Walk, as well as tickets, can be purchased during the event at any of the homes on the tour or at Immaculate Conception Hall.
A five-piece china place setting for 12, a decorated Christmas tree, two Nativity sets and a centerpiece are the raffle items, with tickets three for $5.
"Our council for three years has sponsored a mother in India with two children, now ages 4 and 6, whose husband had abandoned her," said Alice Drees. "We have been sponsoring families in India for over 10 years now, after hearing an appeal from a bishop from India who came here asking for help."
While the event is called a "walk," driving is what people will be doing to travel from place to place, as the homes are scattered within a 10-mile radius throughout the Bishop Creek rural countryside.
Families who are hosting homes on the Christmas Walk include: Gene and Ellie Niemerg, Justin and Maria McWhorter, Bill and Phyllis Jansen, Troy and Susan Goeckner, and Ken and Judy Brummer.
In addition, a gingerbread replica of St. Aloysius Church in Bishop Creek will be on display at Wright's Furniture & Flooring in Dieterich, beginning Tuesday, Dec. 9, and remaining through Christmas. The gingerbread church is made by Dr. Ruben Boyajian, an Effingham physician, who in the past has created gingerbread pieces modeled after St. Anthony of Padua Church and the Franciscan Monastery in Teutopolis.