Category Archives: Non-Profit

Fun at St. John’s Cultural Festival.

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WILLIAMS—The Cultural Festival and Crafts show held at the St. John’s Episcopal Church in Williams attracted local crafts makers from around the area. The event also featured a performance by the Williams Folklorico Dancers and a piñata smashing.

Williams Folklorico Dancers

Williams Folklorico Dancers

Various people show up to sell their locally made crafts.

Various people show up to sell their locally made crafts.

Parents and kids from the Williams High School provided nachos to support a safe party atmosphere for graduation night. You might see their donation box in various businesses so you can still donate for their graduation party.

Youth from the Williams High School sell food to support their safe school party.

Youth from the Williams High School sell food to support their safe school party.

Robyn Dolan of Mrs. D’s Homestead in Ash Fork displayed homemade soaps and skin balms. She said she is going on the road for sometime, but people can still order her merchandise through her web site within the United States. She is working on international orders.

Rising Hy displays samples of their products locally made in Flagstaff.

Rising Hy displays samples of their products locally made in Flagstaff.

Mike Konefal started making hot sauce when his attempts at making beer were less successful. A friend gave him a hot sauce making kit when he was a business student at Northern Arizona University. After much experimentation, he developed hot sauces with flavor as opposed to just spicy and hot. This eventually led to the Rising Hy brand of hot sauce [Facebook/Twitter]

He also merged with the Tortilla Lady brand, another local business in Flagstaff, and sells tortillas to various businesses in Flagstaff.

As the video below explains, he has recently decided to go national with the Rising Hy hot sauces. The Rising Hy products are available for purchase in Flagstaff and other cities across Arizona or through their web site. You can even purchase in Williams at the Canyon Motel on Rodeo Road.

Cultural Festival at St John’s Church tomorrow

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st-john-cultural-festWILLIAMS—A Cultural Festival will be held from 11 am to 3 pm tomorrow at the St. John’s Episcopal Lutheran Church in Walker Hall. St. John’s is located at 202 W. Grant Avenue in Williams.

The event includes crafts and Mexican food for sale and a presentation by the Williams Folklorico Dancers.

Saint John’s Episcopal-Lutheran Church

Williams Rotary Club Harvest Auction drawing near.

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WILLIAMS—The Williams Rotary club is currently selling tickets for the drawing to be held during their Harvest Auction event on November 2. The auction will be held at Miss Kitty’s Steakhouse at the Mountainside Inn at 642 Route 66 in Williams on the east end of town.

The auction starts at 5 pm with musical entertainment followed by a catered dinner, the auction and a costume contest. Tickets for the auction are $35 per person. The evening will finish with a drawing for cash prizes.

The tickets for the drawing are $20 each and only 1000 are to be sold. While the ticket for the top prize of $5000 has been sold to this author, there are still prizes for $3000, $1000 and ten prizes of $100. The rules for the raffle can be found at the Williams Rotary Club web site. Tickets can be obtained through a Rotary Member.

The Williams Rotary Club meets Thursdays at 12 p.m. at Doc Holliday’s Steakhouse & Saloon at 950 North Grand Canyon Boulevard in Williams. For more information contact Brian Prager at 928-607-4661.

November is national novel writing month

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nanowrimo-crestEvery November is National Novel Writing month in which writers participate in writing a 50,000 word novel in thirty days.

The idea was started in 1999 in San Francisco by Chris Baty [Facebook]. Every year since then the event has grown from 21 writers to over 300,000 in 90 countries.

The center for the activity is the NANOWRIMO web site. There are also various local chapters of the site including one in Flagstaff. There is a little over two-weeks to sign up for the event.

Participants sign up on the NANOWRIMO web site and agree to write a certain amount of words a day totaling 50,000 by the end of the month. The web site also allows authors to communicate with one another and provide encouragement.

The organization does not guarantee a novel sale, of course, and it will probably need a re-write. The web site only encourages the process after which you may have a novel to submit. Or you might choose to self-publish through web sites such as LULU or CreateSpace.

Army veteran and cancer survivor rides for life.

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Fred-Vlchek130730FLAGSTAFF—Thirteen-year army veteran and cancer survivor Fred Vlchek stopped in Flagstaff yesterday on his way to dip his bicycle tire into the water of the Pacific Ocean at the Oceanside Municipal Pier.

Fred is riding to raise funds for Fred’s Difference, his 501(C)3 non-profit organization committed to increasing awareness and to support/fund treatment of all types of cancer plaguing the world today. The elements of the threefold mission of Fred’s Difference are; fundraising to help cancer patients offset the costs associated with cancer treatments, increasing awareness of the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of those affected by cancer, and support community efforts to increase awareness and raise funds for the assistance of cancer patients and their families.

As a six-year testicular cancer survivor, Fred began this pilgrimage on July 26th in Oceanside to raise funds in order to help others struggling in their battle with cancer. The five-week, 3200 mile trek will cover 12-states reaching elevations over 8,000 feet.

The next leg of his journey takes him through Tuba City toward the Navajo township of Kayenta where he is looking for assistance. He will need lodgings overnight to prevent paying a hotel bill which takes away from the effort of the ride. In fact, any lodgings that people can provide along the way will help save money which can be applied toward the foundation. As a Fourth degree member of the Knights of Columbus, he hopes that he will have assistance from that organization throughout his ride.

You can follow his ride and make donations at his web site: Freds Difference.com.

St John’s Music and Faith camp Monday

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episcopal-bible-studyWILLIAMS—The 100-year old St. John’s Episcopal-Lutheran Church on the Corner of Second Street and Grant Avenue will be holding a Music and Faith camp starting Monday, July 22nd. The week-long event is free to kids ages 6 through 12 and will run from 10 am to noon each day.

The event will feature singing age-appropriate gospel songs and playing games. They will also be learning Bible verses.

The church camp at 202 W. Grant will be led by Williams residents George and Anne Albers. Space is limited, so they request you call 928-635-2781 714-323-0289 to sign your child up.

FBC Vacation Bible Study begins next week

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WILLIAMS—You still have time to sign up your kids for the Vacation Bible Study at the First Baptist Church at 629 W Grant Ave, Williams.

Tap into God’s promise to give you courage to face your fears by trusting Him. Your day at the park will include Bible stories about Paul and his journey to face his fears by trusting God.

In this one-week adventure kids will learn to trust God through Bible stories, crafts, motivating music and games. VBS will be held July 15-19th from 9 a.m. to noon.

Peggy Dean is still in need of vegetable cans for VBS. Please drop them in the drop box in the entryway.

For more information, call 928-635-4692.

Mayor’s Youth Advisory Committee plants in St. John’s garden

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L-R: Youth Advisory Committee Chair Sylvia Cardenas, Sergio Cardenas, Vice-Chair Cheyenne Lienhard, Juanita Cardenas and Ethan Reinarz.

L-R: Youth Advisory Committee Chair Sylvia Cardenas, Sergio Cardenas, Vice-Chair Cheyenne Lienhard, Juanita Cardenas and Ethan Reinarz.

WILLIAMS—Members of the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Committee planted vegetables and flowers in the St. John’s Episcopal Church community garden.

The Chair of the advisory committee, Sylvia Cardenas, noted that two other members will be helping to water their plot though they were unable to make it to plant today. Those members are Cortney Fritsinger and Devin McNelly.

High school Sophomores through Seniors are welcome to join the committee. They may also attend the meetings held on the second Monday of each month to voice their opinion to the Mayor.

Of the members pictured here, all have graduated except Sergio. Clint Mann is the only youth to recently apply for a position on the council. They are seeking new members to apply to replace the members who go out on July 1st.