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July 2025
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Vol. 39, No. 2
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St. JoSeph edition Reaching South Bend and SuRRounding countieS
Extension Homemakers seek to benefit others By LILLI DWYER Staff Writer Betty Carpenter has been with LaPorte County Extension Homemakers for 45 years, as was her mother before her. The organization, first formed in 1913 through Purdue University, focuses on “everything that makes a house a home,” she said. “It began with rural women getting together at Purdue University, needing something to help them not just with friendship, but with information,” Carpenter explained. “That involves cooking, cleaning, budgeting, teaching ... and relationships. People need relationships. It was established for rural women to get together to have that.” Extension Homemakers now operates nationwide. A county’s Extension Homemakers club will be organized into smaller specialty clubs that meet monthly to share knowledge and work on volunteer or handicraft projects, with all members getting together for quarterly countywide meetings. District meetings take place annually in cities around Indiana, where members can exhibit the projects they’ve been working on all year. In LaPorte County, Extension Homemakers is made up of East Galena, F.A.C.S.Y. Folks, Homespun Harmony, Kitchen Kin, Merry Moderns,
Rolling Stones and Steady Stitchers. There are about 80 members throughout LaPorte County. One of Extension Homemakers’ challenges is figuring out how to meet the needs of younger people in today’s world. Carpenter pointed out that with inflation and other economic factors, skills like food preservation and mending are experiencing a spike in interest. “If you need somebody to show you how to do something, you can go to YouTube, but we can come to your house and show you,” she said. Home economics isn’t all Extension Homemakers stay up to date on. Three times per year, members get together for educational retreats on a variety of topics. In May, they watched Kallie Bontrager of the DNR demonstrate dogs that are trained to sniff out invasive species, like the spotted lantern fly. The next educational retreat will be on updates to Alzheimer’s disease research and is scheduled for Sept. 25 at the LaPorte County Purdue Extension Office, 2857 IN-2, LaPorte. There is room in Extension Homemakers for many kinds of specialty interests, Carpenter said. She is part of the specialty sewing club Steady Stitchers, which makes and donates Continued on page 2
NEW OFFICERS — The LaPorte County Extension Homemakers Association recently elected officers for the 2025-2026 program year. The new officers were installed by Michelle Blough, district representative at the quarterly meeting June 9, at the Purdue Extension Office, LaPorte. Those elected are: president, Betty Carpenter; vice president, Della Wittgren, secretary, Karen Schultz; treasurer, Bonnie Stoner; publicity, Della Wittgren and Kathy Ulman; membership, Jackie Carpenter and Sue Howell; and at-large members, Rita Flores and Sherry Reihle. Pictured in front row from left are Stoner, Betty Carpenter, Wittgren, and Schultz. In back row are Howell, Ulman, Jackie Carpenter, Blough, Reihle, and Flores. Photo provided by LaPorte County Extension Homemakers Association.
HANDMADE — LaPorte County Extension Homemakers held its annual cultural arts contest May 21. Winners were Jackie Carpenter of Kitchen Kin, for her flannel quilt and Joan Kelsey of East Galena for her round starburst place mat. Carpenter and Kelsey would also go on to represent LaPorte County at the Annual Home and Family Arts Conference June 2-3. Carpenter and Sharon Russ of the Cultural Arts Committee, left, are pictured with the winning quilt. Photo provided by LaPorte County Purdue Extension.
THANK YOU — During last year’s International Extension Homemakers Association Week, members of LaPorte County Extension Homemakers made 80 thank you bags for local Meals on Wheels drivers. Volunteerism is a large part of their work. Photo provided by Betty Carpenter.
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