Romeos

romeos@christchurchlutz.org

(Retired Old Men Eating Out)

A group of retired men who gather on Tuesday mornings at 8:30am to eat and have fellowship. They meet at Pine Grove Restaurant on Florida Avenue (right before you get to Busch Blvd.) Its mission is to discuss, plan and then become involved in projects the Church is involved in. It tries to be aware of needs of Church members or others in the community and then use the various skills of it's members to complete those projects free of charge.

Want to join the Romeos? Or just want to learn more about them? You can drop them a line by clicking the link above.

Our Romeos are:

Sidney Swindle, Mark Swindle, Tom Swindle, Marvin Nichols, Nick Nichols, Jim Brandon, Jim Wade, Don Schultz, Jim Kalemeris, Ed White and Glen Barlow. 

Keiko Circle

keiko@christchurchlutz.org

KEIKO CIRCLE meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of every month from 7:00pm until 9:00pm. All the women are invited to Keiko's Christmas Fellowship on Tuesday, December 12th at the home of Melinda Swindle. Please contact Melinda to RSVP.

Keiko Circle was organized in 1970, or earlier, at Lewis Memorial CPC. At the time, LMC had three other circles, Hope, Faith and Frances Forrester. Keiko was formed by the younger women of the Faith Circle. The name, which means "grace" in Japanese, was chosen because LMC had been recently visited by Keiko Yoshisoki, the daughter of Rev. Tadao Yoshisoki, a minister in Japan Presbytery.

Penny and Lita were among the charter members and both have been chair, as well as most other offices, of the circle. Also included in the beginning were, Alice Overton, Nancy White, Bonnie Roder, Eva Jo Callahan. The original group consisted of 10 or 12 women in their 30-40's, most of whom had small children.

In 1972, Keiko decided to start a church bazaar and began to make crafts to sell. That November we set up a booth at the Eastlake Mall on east Hillsborough Avenue. We made $200 and thought that was a very good amount for our first outing. In discussing what we should do with the money, it was suggested that we set up a college scholarship fund for preparation for Christian ministry. It was subsequently started with the name of the Mary Beth Swindle Scholarship Fund, in memory of Lita and Sid Swindle's daughter who had died that summer. It is set up on deposit with the Board of Stewardship in Memphis and is primarily for our students going to Bethel College, but there is provision for students going to a Christian school. We have helped students since the scholarship was organized almost every year, using the interest from the endowment. The principal is now around $70,000. After that first year, we decided to have a "home bazaar" and make it "by invitation only." Joyce Kalemeris opened her home and we made as much as $2,500 a year with the one day sale. The bazaar was usually in late November or early December and people came from year to year, depending on it for their Christmas presents. It was discontinued around 1990 but people still ask about it now and then. Support for the scholarship has also come from individual donations, memorials and a special offering taken on the Sunday closest to Mary Beth's birthday on February 26th.

Keiko also started the tradition of a spaghetti supper in the spring to support our circle budget. This was a fun event with us cooking all day on a Friday and setting up the fellowship hall like an Italian Bistro in the evening. We all dressed in red shirts and long checked skirts, with the guys, husbands, boyfriends, etc., serving in chef's hats and aprons. In later 2005 the spaghetti supper became the "dinner theater" and a fun play was enjoyed along with the dinner.
Keiko has supported various mission projects such as, Convention and Gift to the King offerings, Hot Lunch programs in Colombia, SA, Hogar Samaria in Cali, Colombia, "adoption" of a child in the Children's Home, Bethel Mission, and other
church sponsored missions.

We have always met in members' homes usually having a meal, at first when we met in the day, we had lunch, but for years now we have met at 7pm with a pot luck dinner. For our programs, we have whatever the person in charge of programs selects. This year it is the recommended Bible studies from the Women's Ministry.

Keiko serves many purposes, among them, spiritual growth, Christian fellowship, small group support, networking, and integration into the Church community, but we also, deserved the designation, "gabby girls", given to us early in our history by Sherman White. You can drop them a line by clicking the link above.

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