Come furry, feathered friends!

Mark your calendars this Sunday for a pet-friendly celebration! Holy Trinity will be the sight of a tri-parish social event on Sunday, October 3 at 4:30 p.m. There will be a pet blessing in honor of St. Francis of Assisi on the circle drive behind the church. A pet parade will then follow the ceremony along with refreshments afterwards. Holy Trinity will provide walking tacos, St. Mary's will bring cookies and St. Rita parish is providing drinks. Plan to come in your Sunday best...and that goes for the pets, too! There will be a contest for cutest pet/owner look-a-like! Everyone is invited to enjoy this one-of-a-kind event...even if you don't own a pet!

We have a start date!

The Repair and Refresh comittee is happy to announce that the start date for Kevin Autenrieb to begin interior work at Holy Trinity has been set for Monday, September 27! An alternate start date of October 4 has been set in case anything unforseen comes up. The contract will be signed this week so work can commence as soon as possible. Kevin's plans are to plaster and prime the walls first, and then he will present the congregation with various paint options after mass one Sunday. That date will be announced at a later time so all parishioners can be sure to attend. The painting is scheduled as an 8 week project. As major work begins, it is still very important to keep donating to this project!

Also, the R & R committee recently held their monthly meeting on September 15. Here are some of the highlights:
1. The Chuck Wagon is no longer in operation. It has made a profit of $2,844 with expenses still pending.
2. A Pulled Pork Dinner has been scheduled for October 16 from 5-7 p.m. Meals will cost $8 for adults and $5 for chidren under 10 and free for children under 5 years old. Stay tuned to the blog for more information.
3. Travis Norville has started on 2 more Stations. There are still 2 more stations that need to be sanded and primed for Travis before he can begin painting them.
4. Bids are still out for window repair and tuck-point work on the church foundation.
5. Appropriate lighting is being discussed for all the changes around the Altar of Sacrifice, Reredos, and statues in the Sanctuary--which will require moving or adding additional electrical wiring.

There are many up and coming events planned at Holy Trinity. Keep checking the blog for all the latest information!

Chuck Wagon moved to Stonington

The Holy Trinity Chuck Wagon switched Saturday locations. Instead of setting up shop at the Farmer's Market in Taylorville, the Wagon took it even more local to Stonington and fed the villagers lunch on September 11. Deciding on chips, Mary Curtin took an order from a hungry traveler.

The Chuck Wagon was set up outside of the Fire Station in hopes to get business from the farmers taking grain to the elevator. Unfortunately, weather caused the farmers to stay out of the fields in the morning. But other hungry patrons still made it out. Anita Myers serves lunch to workers from J May Electric.

Bev Henn takes money from another customer. The Chuck Wagon served up hamburgers, hot dogs, pulled pork sandwiches, cookies, chips and drinks last Saturday.

Brian Henn, Kathy Callen, and Anita Myers prepare a sandwich in Stonington. The Chuck Wagon will be in operation on selected dates in Stonington outside the Fire Station. Check the blog regularly for dates and times!

St. Francis' Pet Parade

In honor of the feast day of St. Francis, who is the patron saint of animals, Holy Trinity has teamed up with St. Mary's of Taylorville and St. Rita's of Kincaid for a special pet blessing on Sunday, October 3 at Stonington. The ceremony will start outside the hall at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday and parishioners from all 3 churches are encouraged to bring along their pets for a special animal service. Fr. Hunter will hold a small ceremony and pet blessing for the animals. A pet parade around Holy Trinity will then follow. St. Mary's and St. Rita's are graciously providing food, such as Walking Taco's, and drinks for the gathering. The celebration should last around an hour and a half. Everyone attending should feel free to linger with your pets afterwards for a time of fellowship and fun! This special service and blessing will be a great family and church community event!

R & R updates...

Holy Trinity is about ready to get its much anticipated face lift! Kevin Autenrieb's estimated start date is mid-September for major interior work. The contract has yet to be signed still, but as soon as it is, the R & R committee hopes to get an accurate estimate of the work from him.

Here are a few updates of happenings/changes and events that are slated to occur with the R & R fundraiser:

1. Nancy Mateer has the name and number for a company that provides the filling and vinyl for kneelers. Pat Beck, who has volunteered to repair all of the kneelers, will begin work on those soon.

2. There will be a Harvest Lunch on Saturday, September 11 at the Stonington Firehouse. This lunch is open to the public and will feature pulled pork, hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, cookies and drinks. (NOTE: The Chuck Wagon will no longer be serving at the Farmer's Market at Taylorville.)

3. Bases will be needed to raise the St. Mary and St. Joseph statue to fit properly inside their alcoves. It has also been decided that the alcoves should have some subdued lighting fixtures to showcase them.

4. New kitchen windows will be installed in the basement by Tim Parks of Glacier Hills Construction.

5. A Halloween breakfast is being planned for Sunday, October 31 from 7:30 to 11 a.m. at the Hall. The Altar and Rosary Society is planning the event with all proceeds benefitting the R & R fund.

Keep checking the blog regularly to see pictures and descriptions of work as soon as Kevin Autenrieb begins!

Temporary Altar of Sacrifice in place

A few more subtle changes have taken place this week with the Repair and Refresh Project. A temporary Altar of Sacrifice has been put in place while parishioner Chris Kupish builds a new one for Holy Trinity. The temporary altar came from St. Mary's Church in Taylorville and will be replaced with the new one as soon as it is finished. The old Altar of Sacrifice was divided up into 2 equal halves and now adorns either side of the altar as the pictures above show.

Also, keep checking the blog for some major changes to start taking place. Interior decorator Kevin Autenrieb plans on beginning inside work in mid-September and we will post all the changes and updates as they happen. The R & R project still needs donations to keep these renovations happening. We ask that all donors keep being so generous and we thank you for all your support and interest in Holy Trinity thus far!

Updates in the Reconciliation room

The Holy Family statue now sits atop a hand crafted base by Keith Curtin in the Reconciliation room.

The new base was actually constructed out of the old presider chair that Fr. Hunter used to sit in on the altar. The R & R committee is striving to keep as many original pieces included in the new updates and additions as possible.

This votive candle stand was recently repainted by Nancy Mateer and also resides in the Reconcilation room next to the statue. The votive candles in the stand are actually battery operated ones for safety purposes. However, if parishioners do not like the new candles, original wax burning votives can easily be switched out.

Welcome home!

After being primed and repainted, the St. Joseph statue has found its new home in one of the newly opened alcoves on the altar.

In the other newly opened alcove sits the freshly painted St. Mary statue.

Two of Holy Trinity's saintly statues have finally made their way back to Stonington and now sit beautifully in their new home-the alcoves that have been recently opened around the altar. Kevin Autenrieb repainted the statues and will begin major interior work in mid-September.

STEAK DINNER

Helping customers, Rachelle Maxheimer helps out at the Country Store at the Steak Dinner on Sunday. Anything from baked goods to jewelry to painted signs were available for sale.

Heading the basket raffle booth, Sheryl Coady explains the contents of one of the baskets. Making its debut at the Steak Dinner, the basket raffle booth made over $1,600 at the Steak Dinner fundraiser.

Keeping busy in the kitchen, Anita Myers, Theresa Brockelsby, Alice Curtin, Pat Beck and Beth Vincent keep the food coming.

Another new feature at this year's Steak Dinner was the face painting booth. Youngsters Zettie and Rozella Colbrook show off their butterfly faces while William Colbrook poses as spiderman. The face painting booth decorated 30 faces for the day.

Along with the face painting, colored hairspray was also very popular. Morgan Holthaus turned Duke Hoy's hair blue for the afternoon.

The annual Steak Dinner took place on Sunday, August 1 this year and with the help of many parishioners and community support, it proved to be a success. RECORD PROFITS were recorded, thanks in large part to the basket raffle booth which took in $1,613.00, which was its first time at the Steak Dinner. The day was filled with delicious steak and hamburger dinners, as well as cake and ice cream for desert, shopping at the country store, children's games, face painting and even a dunk tank. Steak sales went up $400 from last year and hamburger sales rose $100. The cake and ice cream stand sold out before the end of the day and still profited $100 more than last year's. A few parishioners even went home a little richer at the end of the day. Dorothy Graham was the winner of the $500 raffle, Tammy Fortner won the $300 raffle and Adam DeClerk won the $150 prize. Marcia Sullivan was winner of the Quilt Raffle. Official Steak Dinner numbers are still not ready, but check the blog regularly and they will be posted as soon as they are in.

Holy Trinity would like to thank everyone who showed us support at the Steak Dinner and helped make it such a huge success! We hope to see you next year!

Getting ready for Steak Dinner

Wrapping silverware, Elizabeth Curtin helps prepare for the Steak Dinner. Many volunteers made it to the hall to lend a helping hand on Wednesday night to assist with set up.

Diana Kupish and Alex Swigert move chairs and tables around to make more space for Steak Dinner patrons.

Parishioners came together once again on Wednesday night to help set up and prepare for the Steak Dinner this Sunday, August 1. Holy Trinity is hoping for the best turn out yet this year. Mostly indoor set up took place last night, however, Saturday morning set up will involve more outside prep work.