Open Arms Thanksgiving meal, Germanfest report

[December 03, 2013]  Hundreds benefit from Open Arms Thanksgiving

The annual Thanksgiving meal served at Open Arms Christian Fellowship brought in hundreds of guests and benefited many others in different ways.

There were 350 meals served, including meals to the Lincoln Police Department, Lincoln Fire Department, Lincoln Rural Fire Department and Logan County Paramedic Association.

In addition, the following won gift cards in a drawing at the dinner:

• John Hoyt – $25 Wal-Mart gift card

• Ernest Petro – $25 IGA gift card

• Geneva Skelton – $25 IGA gift card

• Steven Windlan – $25 Wal-Mart gift card

In addition to gift cards, there were drawings for turkeys. Those winners were:

• Jerry Birdwell

• Shaun Bertolino

• Arlene Busse

• Jean Cypher

• Liz Howell

• Robby Hupp

• Brandy McCormick

• Susan Radespiel

• Shaun Rathe

• Rose Tolliver

• Angela Wheeler

• Mike Wunder

Including the drawing winners, Open Arms Christian Fellowship gave out a total of 60 turkeys, with many given to families in need through their local churches. The churches that participated were LifePointe Church of God, Faith Assembly of God, Abundant Life House of Praise and Open Arms Christian Fellowship.

Open Arms Christian Fellowship extends a very special "thank you" to Home Sweet Home Ministries and Mission Mart of Lincoln for their assistance in raising funds for this year's event.

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St. John's celebrates another successful Germanfest

The Germanfest co-sponsors, St. John United Church of Christ and the Oasis Senior Center, have announced the total for the 2013 event. There were 244 meals served by the youth with the drive-thru orders and over 500 eating inside, giving the event a total profit of $4,242.23.

From the proceeds, $500 was given to the St. John Youth Group for their annual program and dance for veterans. The balance was divided between the two sponsors. The Oasis received $1,871.12, and St. John United Church split their $1,871.11 among three recipients. A total of $1,500 was designated to go to disaster relief, to be given to help with the recent needs in Washington and the other communities in central Illinois that were affected by the tornado and to a Philippine relief fund. The balance of $371.11 will be sent to a sister church, St. John UCC in Chicago, for their inner-city mission work.

Also, the remaining brats not sold were shared with a family in Lincoln who had lost everything in a fire.

Chairing this year's Germanfest were Wayne Mara and Tonita Reifsteck for St. John UCC and Georgina Binzen and Dennis Schrader for the Oasis.

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