Gloria "Tootsie" Stuckey Nominated for Potter County Volunteer of the Year and Wins

The Potter Leader-Enterprise is seeking votes for The Potter County Volunteer of the Year.

Austin's Gloria "Tootsie" Stuckey has been nominated for her long-time service to our community in various capacities, including the Austin Pride Committee which raises money to fund the Annual Fourth of July Fireworks.

"Toots" is also an active member of the VFW Post 7810 Auxiliary and the United Methodist Church.

The Austin Boro News Blog has previously recognized "Toots" for her Community Service.  Click HERE to read of some of her other acts of Goodwill.

The winner is expected to be announced in the December 2nd issue of The Potter Leader-Enterprise.

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In a special section to the Wednesday, December 2, 2015 edition of the Potter Leader-Enterprise, Tioga Publishing announced that Gloria won the 2015 Potter County Volunteer of the Year Award.

Angel Tree Goes Up Friday

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Saturday, December 5th, 2015

True to the Awesome Austin Spirit, in one week's time,  all the Angels have been removed  from the Angel Tree.

Remember to tape the angel to the front of your packaged gift and place it under the tree at the Post Office when the Window is open.

No gifts should be left between 12:00 - 1:00 P.M. or after 3:00 P.M. when the Window is closed.

Gifts will be picked up from the Post Office daily.

Cutoff date for all gifts is Friday, December 18th.

A list of instructions are also posted at the Post Office.

For more information on the Angel Tree Program, please contact Jackie Dynda at 814-647-8784

Bake Sale to Benefit St. Augustine's Parish an Overwhelming Success

Saturday, November 21, 2015, the parishioners from St. Augustine's Catholic Church located on Main Street, Austin, Pennsylvania, held a bake sale to help pay for the costs to keep it open for business.

The Bake Sale was held in front of the Masonic Building on Main Street.

I hear that it is taboo to state publicly how much fundraisers make, but the Bake Sale was an overwhelming success.  It was well worth the effort. Many people baked items for the sale and the citizens of Austin and the visiting hunters supported the fundraiser Big Time.

Here are some pictures I took.

Many thanks to Bill and Patty Solomon's children and their friends who were an enormous help in setting up, tearing down, and transferring the tables and baked goods to the church to be set up and broken down again upon conclusion of the mass at 5:30 P.M.

Angie received 19 pie orders for Thanksgiving with Peanut Butter being the most popular and Pumpkin coming in second.

St. Augustine's parishioners will hold another Bake Sale this coming Saturday, November 28th. from 9:00 A.M. to Noon in front of the Masonic Building on Main Street. There will be no Bake Sale after the Mass on the 28th.
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Although there was a drizzle of rain yesterday morning at 8:00 A.M. when we began to pack the car with baked goods for the St. Augustine's Bake Sale, it was warm outside.

We had set up and were ready for business by 8:30 A.M.

By 11:00 A.M. it was windy and cold and we had only made three (3) sales. Patty Solomon and I each purchased some items and we packed up and moved the tables and baked goods to St. Augustine's Parish on Turner Street. Thank goodness Patty's husband, Bill, came by driving his pickup truck as I had to stop and get my breath four (4) times carrying the table from St. Augustine's Parish to the Gazebo on Main Street.

St. Augustine's Parish has a Saturday Mass at 4:30 P.M. and we hoped to pick up a sale or two after the mass as we still had a wide-variety of delicious looking baked goods.

We ended up with over $300.00 in sales.

A heart-felt thank you  to those of you who supported our Bake Sale yesterday and turn a big disappointment into a feeling of joy and gratitude.

This beautiful sign was purchased for St. Augustine's Parish by Stanley Swank, a former Austin resident who owns Shop n Save in Coudersport, Pennsylvania

The grand total of the Bake Sales held on November 21st and November 28th, including the pie sales, was $748.25.

These two Bake Sales enter the Awesome Austin category as they not only had the overwhelming support of the Saint Augustine parishioners, but also some members of the United Methodist Church of Austin helped baking pies and goods for this endeavor.

A sincere thank you to everyone for making this the success it was.

Snapshot of Saint Augustine's Parish November 2015

Annual FREE United Methodist Church Thanksgiving Dinner

Volunteers of the United Methodist Church, Austin, Pennsylvania,  worked hard on Friday, November 20th,  preparing the Annual FREE Thanksgiving Dinner to be held on Saturday, November 21, 2015.

Nancy and David

Shirley and Noe

Peggy Dow

Tootie Stuckey

Betty and Claudia

 Recently remodeled UMC Dining Roon

Cookies in a Jar

The Annual United Methodist Church Thanksgiving Dinner has become an occasion where we reconnect with those friends and acquaintances that we rarely see other times of the year.  Angie, Mom (Doris Fowler) and I again had the pleasure of sitting across the table from Dan, Patrick and Cheyanne Dow. Patrick and our youngest daughter, Michelle, went to school together. Michelle has lived out of the area for many years now and  we talked about her a great deal.  She is coming home Thanksgiving so we got Patrick's phone number so they can get together then.

The meal and service was excellent and there was plenty of it.  The remodeled dining area is beautiful.

VFW Auxiliary Annual Turkey Dinner

VFW Post 7810 Auxiliary, Austin, Pennsylvania

Angie Fowler, Barb Visneski, Kathy Jeffers, Nancy Glover and Tootsie Marshall preparing the Annual VFW Turkey Dinner

Barb Visneski

Nancy Glover on right cutting the turkey

Left to right: Barb Visneski, Angie Fowler, Kathy Jeffers, Nancy Gover and Tootsie Marshall

Front to back; Barb Visneski, Nancy Glover and Tootsie Marshall

We Are A Family

WE ARE A FAMILY

by Teresa M. (Terri) Cooney

Guest Contributor

This past Friday evening, November 6, 2015, at the Austin Volunteer Fire Department Hall, something extraordinary happened, but for the residents of the Austin area, it was nothing new.  One of our own needed help and, as always, we answered the call.

Tootsie Stuckey

Gloria "Tootsie" Stuckey, a lifelong resident of Austin, has, for decades been one of the ladies who phones neighbors and organizes dinners for bereaved families after funeral services.  NEIGHBORS then make the food and deliver it to the location of the dinner.  No one is reimbursed for this; it is purely a donation of love and friendship.  It's done quietly, with no fanfare, no publicity.  You see, IN Austin, that's WHO WE ARE and that's WHAT WE DO.  We take care of our own.  In truth, we are one big FAMILY.

Mrs. Stuckey recently lost the use of her home due to water damage and her insurance didn't cover as much as it should have, so we came together to help her and raised over $5,000 for her.  What's extraordinary about this is that the Austin area has fewer than 1,000 people.

Like a family, we sometimes bicker, but when disaster strikes, we pull together and we do whatever we can to help.  It simply doesn't occur to us to be any different.

I have lived in Buffalo, NY, Palmyra, NY, Port Allegany, PA., and Fairmount, IN. in the past and now I'm back in my hometown and I'm glad.  Although I have seen and been part of organizations that help those communities, I have NEVER experienced a commitment to one's neighbors as I have experienced in Austin.  For us, it is personal, handed down from generation to generation and that is what makes the Austin area unique and such a great place to live.  Regardless of religion or political affiliation or any other outside influence that would otherwise divide us, Austin is an exemplar of what all communities should strive to be.

I am grateful and proud to live here again, among my family and friends and I know our unique spirit of caring will continue far into the future.

Note: This article is also posted in the Austin Boro News Blog at www.austinboronews.blogspot.com.