Saint Mary Altar Society Annual Gift Shop scheduled

Published 10:48 am Monday, November 9, 2015

Put this event on your calendars! The Annual Gift Shop and Luncheon of the Saint Mary Altar Society will be held in their Parish Hall at 912 Cherry on Thursday, November 19, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. In addition to the Gumbo Luncheon, the ladies of the Altar Society will have homemade baked and canned goods, frozen gumbo, other frozen entrees, a Silent Auction, crafts, candies, and much more for you on that day.

This year many new items, specifically for Christmas, have been included. There is a Mother/Daughter duo, Christine and Amy Bonneaux, who have made Christmas trees out of garden tomato plant stands. The wire stand has beautiful ribbons wound through the wire to create a lovely Christmas tree. A great “crafty” idea!

Of special interest also are Mrs. Santa’s Workshop gifts. “Mrs. Santa” is actually two ladies, Alice McCray and Shirley Swoboda, who are neighbors and close friends. They spend several months each year prior to the Gift Shop making very special gifts to sell. They donate all their proceeds, materials, and their time to make this part of the Gift Shop a success. They get their ideas from craft books and magazines, and then brainstorm about what will sell the best. They have a lot fun and know they are helping their Church.

Sue Ferguson makes Christmas ornaments and provides jewelry for the Altar Society to sell. Suzanne Broussard, who maintains her membership all the way from Louisiana, always makes many homemade aprons that sell like hotcakes.

The Gumbo Luncheon will be served from 11 A.M. to 1 P.M. and is $8. This includes gumbo, rice, potato salad, crackers, homemade cake for dessert, and tea. Take-out orders are available and containers will be furnished. Delivery is also available on orders of 5 or more with orders placed by Tuesday, November 17th.

The Altar Society is a service organization of Saint Mary Catholic Church. It began in 1883 when Dominican nuns had to come by horse and buggy from Beaumont to maintain the Altar of Saint Mary Church. The nuns taught the ladies of the Church how to do the work they had been doing and thus, the Altar Society was born. Today, the Altar Society does much more than just maintain the altar. They provided the lovely stained glass windows in the chapel, purchased 300 new chairs for the Parish Hall, assist with the Soup Kitchen, and donate to Saint Mary School and BirthRight, just to name a few projects.

Come and spend some time browsing in the Gift Shop and have a great gumbo luncheon with gumbo prepared by Larry David.