For Debbie Vaughan and Karen Dumey, the ice cream social was just the beginning.
“This was our opening celebration,” Dumey said. The rest of their day would be going to drop off a quilt top and going to craft stores.
Wednesday’s “opening celebration” was the 65th annual St. Mary’s Hospital Auxiliary Ice Cream Social at the Cathedral of St. Joseph Undercroft. The auxiliary raises money for St. Mary’s Hospital patient services.
Attendees could purchase tickets for cake and ice cream or purchase lunch including burgers, hot dogs, sides and drinks.
This year the funds will be going to new over-bed tables for the hospital Intensive and Progressive Care Units, said Beverly Stafford, St. Mary’s director of volunteer services.
Janet Wear-Enloe, director of business development and marketing at St. Mary’s, said the volunteers running the ice cream social wanted to do something that would directly impact patient care services and address an immediate need. The tables are used by every patient for 36 beds total between the ICU and the PCU, and are used as bedside or over-bed tables for eating and placing flowers and cards.
The new tables will be made of a solid surface material similar to kitchen countertops and will prevent infection, Wear-Enloe said. The new tables will have more height options and a better surface than the previous tables. The tables are something the ice cream social funds will be able to immediately purchase and be installed in hospitals.
“We are always looking for whatever the immediate need is of the hospital,” said Suzette Ryder, auxiliary board member and volunteer. “Especially for the patients’ benefit.”
The event featured a silent auction, quilt raffle, ice cream and cake, lunch items, a gift shop and book nook. A quilting group makes the quilt just for the ice cream social, Stafford said.
Dumey said the event was well organized, and Vaughan said the event had a larger crowd than they had expected.
Stafford said the auxiliary hoped to raise a similar amount as it had in the past, recognizing that it’s becoming harder to raise funds in Jefferson City than it has been previously. In past years, they have raised as much as $18,000 a year.
Ryder said the event is St. Mary’s biggest fundraiser of the year.
Last year, the event was at Selinger Center at St. Peter Church since the event’s traditional location, the Undercroft, was being renovated. The event was canceled in 2020 and modified to a drive-thru event in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Emily Scheulen, the ice cream social chair, said she was happy to have everyone back at St. Joseph Cathedral.
People come to the event from nearby communities including Fulton, California and Tipton, Stafford said.
“To me, that’s what really kind of excites me about it — is it feels like a reunion — and you see people that maybe you only see at this event, and they’re from all over,” Stafford said.
A lot of retirees from the hospital will come to the event. Stafford said her favorite part of the event is seeing all the volunteers coming together to serve the community.
“This is very special,” Scheulen said. “You know, you get to see old friends and people you don’t get to see often.”
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In the accompanying video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzCip7OaxgQ, Beverly Stafford, St. Marys director of volunteer services, talks about the importance of the 65th annual St. Marys Hospital Auxiliary Ice Cream Social as guests enjoyed cake, ice cream, burgers and hot dogs.
Josh Cobb/News Tribune photo: Jefferson City locals gathered at the Cathedral of St. Joseph on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, for St. Mary’s Hospital’s 65th annual Auxiliary Ice Cream Social. Cindy Nichols helps to prepare a meal for one of the patrons.
Josh Cobb/News Tribune photo: Jefferson City locals gathered at the Cathedral of St. Joseph on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, for St. Mary’s Hospital’s 65th annual Auxiliary Ice Cream Social. The event is put on annually to raise money for various projects. This year the money is going towards bedside tables for patients of St. Mary’s Hospital.