Garden Spot townlively.com
MARCH 6, 2024
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL LX • NO 11
Good sports Spaghetti dinner to benefit student-athletes BY ANN MEAD ASH
N
ew Holland Lions Club member Dustin Spencer was not sure when the club first held a fundraiser spaghetti dinner for Garden Spot High School (GSHS) sports teams, but he did not hesitate to do some research on the subject. “I remember (attending the dinners) when I was a little kid,” said Spencer, who later reported that the first dinner was held in 1994. This year ’s all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner will be held on Saturday, March 23, from 4 to 7 p.m. in the cafeteria at GSHS, 669 E. Main St., New Holland. For 2024, the Lions are partnering with the New Holland Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) Lodge 413 to hold the event. “This is our first dinner since 2019,” said Spencer, who noted that the benefit was interrupted in 2020 by COVID-19 restrictions. This year’s menu will include
spaghetti and meatballs, salad, bread, and a variety of desserts. The eat-in option will be all-youcan-eat, but per-ticket takeout meals will be also be available. The event has benefited the GSHS baseball team for at least 10 years, and this year, the lacrosse program will benefit as well. “We do the behind-thescenes work,” said Spencer. “The kids on the teams will be the servers, clear the tables, and seat people.” Tickets may be purchased from Spencer by calling 717-203-3225 or from Odd Fellows member Ralph Hess at 717-354-2200. Tickets should also be available at the door on the night of the dinner. “In 2019, we sold 800 tickets,” recalled Spencer, who said the event was so well attended, kitchen workers had to go to a nearby grocery store to purchase more food. Spencer said he would be happy to see 700 attend this Lions Club member Dustin Spencer (left) and Odd Fellows Lodge member Ralph Hess are preparing for the See Spaghetti dinner pg 3 spaghetti dinner that will benefit Garden Spot High School sports teams.
A bright patch
Happy Easter meals
Local quilts help support Fairmount’s Sharing Fund
Amy Marburger, food and nutrition manager with CrossNet Ministries, is not sure exactly how long the organization has been giving away special Easter meals, but this is her fifth year serving them, and she knows they were distributed for at least seven years before she took the position. In 2023, Marburger oversaw the preparation of 125 meal packs with more assembled later for a total of 135. This year, she plans to prepare 150 to give away. The 2024 Easter meal will be Jodi Rabert (left) and Amy Marburger hold items that the CrossNet distributed from a CrossNet van Food and Nutrition Center will hand out at this year’s Easter meal
BY ANN MEAD ASH
In 1990, Fair mount held its first auction and chicken barbecue. From the beginning, handmade quilts, made by area sewists, have been a part of the event. “In the first year, a quilt was donated, which was what started the auction,” reported Swailes. “Then in the next couple of years, people would donate completed quilts (to be sold).” According to Swailes, about four or five years after the first auction, the initial Quilting Days
See CrossNet Ministries pg 5 giveaway.
was held. Quilting Days brings together stitchers who live in the area surrounding Fairmount, which is located on a plateau in Ephrata high above the surrounding farm fields, to stitch beautiful quilts, which are later sold to benefit the organization’s Sharing Fund. This year, Quilting Days took place in Fairmount’s Farm Crest Community Room, 1100 Farm Crest Drive, Ephrata, on Feb. 17, 20, and 21, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. More than 200 quilters gathered over the three days. See Fairmount pg 4
EXCITING BUS TRIPS AWAIT.... Holland, MI Tulip Festival & Mackinac Island May 1st-7th
BOOK ONLINE @ FUNCOUNTRYTOURS.COM or CALL 717-823-2086 for more info. POSTMASTER: PLEASE DELIVER MAR. 6, 2024
PRSRT STD ECRWSS U.S. Postage Paid Engle Printing Co
Postal Patron
GDN
BY ANN MEAD ASH
Ark Encounter Tour June 5th-8th R104657