Area residents responded generously at the third annual Nativity Festival held in Jefferson on Sunday, Dec. 14, contributing more than $9,000 to help fund the projects of Habitat for Humanity in Greene County.
Erich Kretzinger, executive director of Habitat in Greene and Boone Counties, said about 225 people were on hand through the late afternoon at the First United Methodist Church in Jefferson. They came for a display of more than 60 nativity sets owned by local residents, a community concert that filled the sanctuary, a soup supper which required additional tables to be set up hurriedly in the fellowship hall, and then an auction of 14 pies from top local bakers.
Kretzinger said a free-will offering throughout the afternoon totaled $2,916; the 14 pies that auctioneer Dale Higgins sold brought $2,550; three local banks matched donations up to $2,750; several small Nativity sets were sold in silent auctions for a total of $197, and the large nativity set specially made for the local Habitat group by the Sticks art & furniture company of Des Moines was purchased by high bidder Mary Weaver of Rippey for $1,500.
The banks taking part were five branches of Peoples Trust & Savings Bank, Home State Bank of Jefferson and Community State Bank of Paton.
The first year the Nativity Festival was held, 2012, the net income was $7,450. In 2013, when the festival was held on a bitterly cold day with snow and ice, the total dropped to $7,003.
“The weather this past Sunday was very nice. It was easy for people to get out and we brought in 30 percent more in donations than last year,” Kretzinger said. “It’s important for us to do well financially with the festival, since it’s our one public fundraiser of the year in Greene County, and this puts us in a good cash position as we start planning our housing projects for 2015.”
Habitat uses local volunteers to help build new houses or rehabilitate existing ones for families that need assistance. Kretzinger is completing his fifth year in his position, and the workload has grown considerably. Prior to 2010, one family in Greene County had been assisted by Habitat, and 11 more have been helped since then.
In other highlights from the festival:
–Shirley Haupert, who supervised the staff of volunteers who provided the soup supper, reported that they managed to seat and get food to 160 people in just 10 minutes, after the conclusion of the concert. The volunteers came from the host congregation at First United Methodist Church, several other local churches and the Interact Club at Greene County High School.
–Top selling pie in the auction was a double-crusted “triple berry” by Jefferson’s Marianne Carlson, which brought $300. Her sister Gina Harrington’s lemon meringue pie brought $225. One bidder bought both a French silk pie by Patty Fisher of Grand Junction and a strawberry pie by Habitat board member Angie Jewett of Dana for $200 each. The bidder raised his own bids to a total $500 donation to Habitat.
–The concert featured choirs from the Methodist Church, Central Christian Church and First Presbyterian Church in Jefferson; two duets, sisters Maureen Borkowski and Angie Pedersen, and the “Ordinary Cowboys” Curt Nelson and Dave Harding; soloists Travis Graven and David Petersen, and poet Tori Riley. Harry Ahrenholtz, president of the local Habitat board of directors, served as emcee. ~by Chuck Offenburger
