Story by Reagan Scott
EXETER (SNR) - Saint Stephen’s Altar Society in Exeter will host its 40th annual salad luncheon and card party Thursday, Oct. 24.
Started in 1979 by Sara Ogren, the event is a way for the women of the parish, Exeter, and the surrounding communities to grow in fellowship with one another.
When Ogren was serving as an officer for the parish Altar Society, she felt as though the members “just weren’t working together.” The events the organization put on throughout the year usually involved just a small number of the same members.
In order to help build the Christian fellowship that Ogren desired from the Altar Society, her mother, Ruth Klemm, suggested the Altar Society host a salad luncheon and card party.
“This would involve all the women of St. Stephen’s Parish, allowing all to come together working for the same purpose and goal,” Ogren said.
In the four decades following, the event has changed in some ways, and stayed the same in others. While event tickets originally cost $3, they now cost $10. And, the size of the parish’s hall in 1979 only allowed for a small number of attendees.
Today, thanks to St. Stephen’s new parish hall, the event averages about 155 people every year, according to Pat Becker, a former Altar Society officer who has been helping work on decorations for the luncheon this year.
Becker said she enjoys the fact that the luncheon brings a large group of women together to share in fellowship with one another, no matter what church they’re from.
After the lunch, Becker said about 60 women stick around to play Bridge or Pitch together.
“We have lots of ladies from the community, local businesses and other communities,” she said. “It’s just a great social event with a lot of great food and many prizes.”
All female members of St. Stephen Parish are part of the Altar Society, and are tasked with providing different types of salad (both savory and dessert), nut breads, deviled eggs or sandwiches for the event. Each member also sells raffle tickets for items to be auctioned off, and there are opportunities to win a number of crafts, food items, and other purchased goods.
This event is the Altar Society’s largest fundraiser of the year, and funds raised go towards many of the organization’s causes.
For example, the Altar Society provides candles and flowers for St. Stephen’s altar, helps pay for cassocks for the altar boys, sends parish children to summer camps and funds an annual day-long pilgrimage for members to different places in Lincoln and Omaha.
Throughout the year, members of the Altar Society are involved in a number of tasks such as providing food for funeral dinners and special events, cleaning the parish hall and rectory, sending greeting cards to parishioners for different occasions and providing altar veiling at Easter to name a few.
Becker said, “The ladies work hard throughout the year... and a lot of it is volunteered. It really gives us the opportunity to work together.”
Now, the members of the St. Stephen Altar Society are working together to put on an event that means so much to them after all these years.
“Many ladies in the surrounding communities continue to attend year after year and look forward to our salad luncheon,” Ogren said.
Tickets for the luncheon may be purchased in advance or at the door.
