Some fraternal organizations in La Salle County faring OK with food fundraisers

They miss the money from the bar. One unlucky member freezes collecting money from the drivers at curbside. The Oglesby Knights of Columbus weren’t at all sure that they’d make a dime selling fish dinners in clamshell containers.

The results, however, have come as a pleasant surprise to Oglesby Grand Knight Tom Daley. At the Ash Wednesday fish fry, the Oglesby Knights cranked out more than 200 orders to a line of waiting cars, he said, and “that’s very good for us.”

“We have a lot of expenses that are still going on,” Daley said. “We’ve had to redo the furnace and change the water heater. The bills are still coming in, and, being not-for-profit, the fish fries have really helped us.”

Other fraternal organizations report similar findings. Everyone is eager to see the pandemic end so they can resume indoor fundraisers, but the money generated from curbside food service has not been a bad consolation prize.

Syl Janusick is junior vice commander at American Legion Post 237 in Oglesby. He said they miss dine-in revenues and are limited now to taco nights and fish fries – steak fries simply cannot be done on a take-out basis – and receipts from the bar, which could be substantial even on taco night, are down to zero.

“So we miss that, but we’re holding our own,” Janusick said. “We’re not generating the income we had in 2019 by far, but we’re managing to keep the balance in the checking account stable.”

Janusick said members have become more efficient in preparing and distributing meals. The kitchen is down to just two workers, and the other helpers form a “linear” production team that even uses walkie-talkies to relay curbside orders to the kitchen.

“Little efficiencies were developed with experience,” Janusick said, noting that the overall cleanup is substantially easier than when they had in dine-in service.

And those interviewed quietly acknowledged little protest in closing the doors. Most fraternal organizations are comprised of Baby Boomers whose ages and age-related comorbidities (high blood pressure, for example) put them at elevated risk of infection. Everyone has tacitly cooperated with social distancing in the kitchen and worked out ways to keep one another safe.

Over in Utica, members of the Knights of Columbus are delighted that nobody gets the unwanted job of soaking and cleaning the silverware at the end of a busy dine-in event.

Ray Aubry, a past grand knight at Utica’s Marquette Council, agreed that COVID-19 hasn’t much affected the bottom line. It took “quite a bit of engineering and thinking” to work out curbside fundraisers after years of hosting meals indoors, but Aubry said the results will ensure they can pay the light bill.

Aubry only laments that dine-in service isn’t available for the benefit of school-age children and senior citizens.

The Utica Knights had recruited Catholic schoolchildren to complete their service hours by running plates to the dine-in customers and clearing tables. During the pandemic, there isn’t room for the kitchen help and no diners to serve. Utica kids must look elsewhere to complete their service hours.

“It’s a downer,” Aubry said. “That’s really a plus to have those kids and out there learning how to give of their time. It isn’t that we need the kids – we have plenty of people who split their time up – but it does help the kids to get out and learn to meet people and talk to people.”

Utica’s dining room had also provided a social platform for the village’s elder community. Aubry noted that dine-in suppers would draw seniors citizens who’d linger after cleaning their plates – “You almost have to kick them out at 6:30” – and he wishes there was better outreach for those who now are shut-ins during the pandemic.

At the other end of the spectrum is the Streator Knights of Columbus, which has a separate K of C Club with regular indoor dining. Streator’s operation is more akin to a restaurant than to what neighboring councils occasionally offer, and club manager Angie Miller said they’ve lost thousands of dollars during the pandemic.

“We did not do well at all,” Miller said. “Curbside service did not work for us.”

Miller acknowledged, however, that Streator is the exception that proves the rule. Where other councils could raise money intermittently and successfully with curbside pickup, Streator has a fixed business model that hasn’t made it easy to adapt to the pandemic.