The 2009 St. John’s Lutefisk Dinner has come and gone after months of preparation.  Again, it was a huge success with about 1900 guests and workers served.  This project would not be possible without the efforts of the many people who donate hours and hours in the lefse making process for 8 weeks prior to the dinner and the hours, and days, spent in preparation and serving our guests on Lutefisk Day, 10/22/09.  A big thank you to all of you for your service to St. John’s Lutheran Church.  It is a well oiled machine that continues to amaze all the guests and according to their comments, gets better every year!

Our records indicate that many congregational donations were not received.  Items that were solicited from each household are shown below with the percent of giving:  coleslaw – 79%, cranberry relish – 70%, potatoes – 52%, Norwegian baking – 96%, butter – 68%, coffee – 34%, money – 40%.  Overall the percentage of giving was 50%.  If your donation was money or food and you did not bring it, you may still send your check for $15 per household to St. John’s and mark it Lutefisk Supper Donation.

The success of this project depends upon the donations requested from each household.  The profits from the dinner go to support our financial obligation that St. John’s has to the ELCA synod and the profits from the Bake Sale Table go to needed projects at our church.  At this time, our profit was over $23,000, including dinner and bake sale, plus we have saved $2000 for start-up costs next year, and purchased a new chest freezer.  This event was also supported by Thrivent and will know that monetary amount in December.  We will write a check to St. John’s for $17,000 to go to the synod and will spend about $6300 on needed church projects.

We say good-by, and a big thank you, to Darlene Bigelow and Colleen Jacobson for their years of service on the Lutefisk Committee and welcome back to Lois Law, who is re-joining the committee along with Ardis Grovdahl and Shelley Gustafson. 

We are looking for new members to come on this committee and to serve a 3-year commitment.  If you would like to be a part of this planning committee or if you have any questions about the committee, please give one of the current members a call—or ask us in church.

The 2010 Lutefisk Dinner date is Thursday, October 28, 2010.

Your 2010 Lutefisk Dinner Committee members are:

Ardis Grovdahl-------------634-7644           

Shelley Gustafson------- 634-4243

Lois Law----------------------634-4552