Covered dish suppers bring hands together in worship

TEEA LADIES aren't into canning so much as service these days. Newsboy photos/ Charles Kerr taken at October meeting at Curtis Church

Ladies, churches and covered dish suppers are a natural force in East Texas, as unstoppable as a hurricane but more beneficial. The local chapter TEEA (Texas Extension Education Association) met at Curtis Church for their annual Fall Fest, and as usual, it included a buffet lunch of homemade favorites.

Member Virgi Sander said the club originally started around 1925 as the Home Demonstration Club and primarily did canning. Canning was a big thing then, since freezers were not something people commonly had in their homes and, in fact, only a few homes in the big city of Jasper had electricity.

In 1926, Texas A&M sent a home demonstration agent to Jasper who met with seven or eight homemakers in the old Homer School.

"We have had several names over the years," Sander said, but they eventually became one of the many TEEA chapters, including local chapters called Pinetucky, Jasper, Homer and Call-Mitchell.

"We're not so much into canning now, but into helping other people," Sander said.

The group helps with the police department's Toys for Tots drive, fixes Christmas baskets for shut-ins, and gathers up elderly residents for a day of pampering, getting their hair done, playing games and socializing.

Some of their on-going projects include raising funds for local volunteer fire departments. Sanders' group is selling chances on a folding rocker with leather made in Honduras, $1 each or 6 for $5. For tickets, call Johnnie Beth Freeman at 384-5235 or see Cindy Lou VanDevender at the Texas County Extension office at 271 E. Lamar in Jasper.