St. Mary's Parish to hold Mardi Gras fundraiser for Poland trip

Guys and gals in need of something fun to do in Phillips County on Valentine’s Day are in luck this year as St. Mary’s Parish is holding a Cajun Buffet and “A Nite at the Races” next Saturday in Malta.

St. Mary’s is holding the dinner in order to raise funds to send at least 10 people to the World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland in 2016.

“The whole trip itself is through the Dioses of Eastern Montana,” said Father Cory Sticha of St. Mary’s. “So it is all the Catholic churches in the eastern side of the state. Our group is people from Phillips County.”

Father Sticha said that the two-week trip starts in Germany, goes through the Chzech Republic before about a week and a half in Poland.

“Some of it is missionary work and some of it is the actual World Youth Day events themselves,’ he said. “The highlight of the trip is a huge mass with the Pope. There will be hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people there.”

Mardi Gras Dinner will be held on Saturday, February 14 at the Malta City Hall starting at 5:30 p.m. The dinner will include a Cajun buffet dinner, dessert and a beverage. Brenda Rummel, St. Mary’s Parish member, said that the menu will include gumbo, jambalaya, a Cajun Shepherd’s Pie, red beans and rice, a yams and apples side dish and a no-host bar with beer, wine and soda.

“Just a little taste of New Orleans,” Father Sticha said. “I love Cajun food.”

Following the dinner, ”A Nite at the Races” will be held featuring authentic horse races from tracks across the country broadcast into city hall with multiple camera angels and announcers. People will be allowed to bet on their favorite horses and a bonus for buying tickets to the Cajun Buffet, “money” will be passed out to help play the ponies and win prizes (the money isn’t real as the event isn’t gambling.)

“There will be eight races with 10 horse fields and they are filmed live from all over tracks in the United States,” Rummel said. “So we are going around, selling horses to people for $20. If your horse wins the race, as an owner you will be put into a drawing.”

There will also be a 50/50 drawing, a silent auction and door prizes during the night’s festivities.

Since the event is to be held on Valentine’s Day, baby-sitting will be available for couples who need a night out, away from the kiddos. The cost for baby-sitting will be $10 per family and will be hosted at the Religious Education Center.

The price of the tickets to World Youth Day in Krakow are $3,800 each so the youths wanting to attend the event have a lot of fundraising to do before the 2016 trip.

“But this is our big kickoff,” Rummel said. “So we hope people come out and support the kids, have some good food and have some fun.”

Because the cost of traveling to the World Youth Day in Krakow is high, St. Mary’s Parish will be hosting fundraisers up until the leave time in 2016. One such way the group is raising funds is by selling coffee through their website -- http://www.saintmarysmalta.org in the top, right corner of the page.

“It’s coffee from Monks in Wyoming and it is really good,” Father Sticha said. “The kids get proceeds from everything they sell.”

Tickets for the event are available at The First State Bank, First Security Bank and Independence Bank and for more information about the night, or about ticket prices, call Rummel at 301-0936.