Sausage Supper 2014

As you may have heard by now (I hope you have) the 2014 Sausage Supper at St.Paul's, Troy has been cancelled because of weather. This was not an easy decision. There are people who fall on both sides. Do you cancel? Do you not cancel? Will the weather be as bad as they say? Will it be worse? Will the forecast keep people (customers and workers) away? Will someone fall as the Supper? Will someone get hurt driving to the Supper? What is our responsibility?

The decision was not an easy one. I know that Ken Sipes talked with quite a few people who all had their opinions. I know I talked with quite a few people who had their opinions. Yet in the end, there was only two people that ended up making the decision, Ken and myself. I guess it lands on our shoulders. We held off as long as we could, hoping the forecast would get better but it didn't. So in order to cut expenses (we were already responsible for the sausage no matter what happened), we made the call. Right or wrong, it was made.

Now we wait to see what tomorrow brings. Will it be as bad as they say? Will there be 4-6 inches of snow on top of 1/10th of an inch of ice? Will there really be 2 inches of sleet mixed in with it? I am hoping the weather is bad. I would hate to have cancelled the Sausage Supper for no reason. But I still stand on the decision for the sake of safety, trying to be proactive rather than reactive.

Then the second part of the decision: Do you reschedule? Once again, there are a variety of opinions. It sounds so simple. Just pick a date, set it and go for it. And when you walk in, work for a 3 hour shift and go home, it is easy. When you come in and enjoy the wonder of a sausage dinner, the best in the area if I say so myself, it sounds easy. What isn't easy, is getting everything arranged again. It takes several months of planning to get enough workers for the supper (and we already had trouble getting some of the positions filled, especially in the kitchen for the 2nd shift. Mark Ponce was short on workers even after we had been asking for workers to come forward.) Jennifer Kesterson and Erica Sipes were working to get enough workers for the dinner room.

Folks that signed up to work had set aside time to be there on March 2nd. Many took off from work for the day and asking them to take off another day is challenging. Other events are taking place. There are a host of other reasons. In the end, the call is once again made to not reschedule, to return the canned goods, to freeze the sausage and have a Sausage Sale Day, to store the paper products for next year, and to move on.

Right decision? Wrong decision? Like all things, it will be debated. You might have a strong opinion. I am sure that you will make that known. Like the discussion the next morning after a big ball game, everyone will know what was the right thing to do at the moment. But making that call at that moment it needs to be made is not so easy.

Please be kind when you speak about the decisions that were made. Be forgiving if you think that they were the wrong decisions. Let the love of Christ be the focus of your words and you actions. Remember that all that you say and do will reflect upon St. Paul's Church and upon the message of the Gospel that is proclaimed. And it is, after all, still just a Sausage Supper and the work of the Church goes on. What is that work? To proclaim that there is only Lord and Savior and that is Jesus Christ. Salvation is found in no other name in heaven, on earth or under the earth. We praise God for this wonderful message of life and hope.

And yes, Lord willing, there will be a Sausage Supper in 2015.