By Anna Skinner
From 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Aug. 19, St. Alphonsus Liguori Catholic Church in Zionsville will celebrate something that occurred a bit far from home.
Father Ronald Gauthier from St. Alphonsus’s twin parish, St. Anthony, in Croix Fer, Haiti, will be in town to join the parish and the Zionsville Community High School Jazz Band for a celebration regarding the progress made on a kitchen and a cafeteria area in Croix Fer.
Jazz in the Hall will be a potluck event, with families who attend encouraged to bring dishes. Families do not have to be members of St. Alphonsus to attend the event.
“The jazz band will be performing, and in between, we will have a series of presentations by a couple different individuals from the (St. Alphonsus) Haiti Committee and also a presentation by Father Ronald from St. Anthony,” said Stephen Boehm, a member of the St. Alphonsus Haiti Committee. “We are really hoping it can be a celebratory and relaxed environment for Father Ronald and everybody who attends.”
The ZCHS Jazz Band will perform three or four sets, with each set being 15 to 20 minutes long.
Construction for the kitchen at St. Anthony began more than two years ago. The total project is expected to cost $36,000. Previously, the food preparation area was a small shack next to the school.
In addition to the cafeteria and food prep area, St. Alphonsus built the school itself, sent members on various mission trips and provided for teachers’ salaries at the Haitian school.
“It takes time to come up with that money, especially when you’re doing all these other things with teachers’ salaries and water filtration and raising money for other mission trips down there,” Boehm said.
Jazz in the Hall will take place in the parish hall at St. Alphonsus, 1879 W. Oak St.
For more, visit zionsvillecatholic.com.
