Apparently there is a reality show on the History Channel called “American Pickers.”

Just why there has to be reality TV on a channel that once upon a time had great

documentaries about history per the title of the network is now a bunch of reality shows

is beyond me, but perhaps that can be another bulletin column for a week when I have

writer’s block. I’m sure the TV executives know more than I do, so with respect to this

show my sense is people enjoy it because it focuses on two guys who go to sales

around the country or other places where one mans trash is another man’s treasure.

Well, perhaps we could start our own show here at Saint Joe’s on Rosemount Public

Access. This past week, we converted our gym and much of our school into a

warehouse for our first rummage sale.

To get the ball rolling, Paula Krekelberg, Patty Casurrella, Brian Zuege, Joan Somes

and John Peterson formed a committee to plan the sale.

Katie Johnson and Kelly Roche also assisted from the school, and Esther Jaeger had a

couple volunteers from her Confirmation class. On top of this, there were volunteers. A

LOT of volunteers. There were about 100 total. Pretty amazing when we are finally into

the nice time of year weather wise and so many are on vacations and enjoying summer.

Though my suggestion was initially to use the funds from the sale to put a down

payment on a future priest’s vacation residence along Lake Superior with perhaps a

winter retreat in the Miami area (really wanting to think of the future priests who will

follow me of course), after getting input and talking things over, we found a much better

way to spend the proceeds. Namely, we’ll be doing the following:

1)  Flatscreen and dvd for the Gathering space.  $2500 committed.  This should cover

installation and networking as well.

2)  Reimburse the Parish accounts for the $2500 spent to refurbish the cross in the

main cemetery. This makes the entire project, new Corpus and refurbished cross a

donated-funds effort.

3) Everything over $5000 goes to the new preschool.  Mrs. Kelly Roche indicated her

top priority was $2000 to cover the curriculum.  So we can support that with funds to

spare for other materials, furniture, etc.  The pre-school folks also "appropriated" toys

and books for the kids, and this adds to the donated funds total.

While we are still tallying up the final total, it looks like we brought in about $8000 due to

this sale. That’s a great total and a huge success for our first year. That will go a long

way to helping our parish and our new preschool.

I just want to thank the committee, the volunteers, and all who were involved in making

this sale a reality. If you had a chance to visit, you saw how much time went into set up,

running the sale and cleaning things up. Lots of good feedback was received from

people as well, and hopefully we can have another sale in the future. (Perhaps funding

that rectory bowling alley? Just a thought).

This sale is just another example of how so many say “we are Saint Joe’s” and give so

selflessly of their time and talent. No one here says “what’s in it for me” but rather “how

can I help,” and because of that our parish thrives. Thank you for making it such a great

success, and thank you all for how much you give to our parish.

Have a blessed week!

Fr. Paul