Landis Homes Plans 50th Fellowship Days

In 1973, Landis Homes, 1001 E. Oregon Road, Lititz, held its first chicken barbecue, an event that would come to be known as Fellowship Days, which now includes a benefit auction, food, presentations, yard and craft sales, a talent show, a parade, and children's activities. The event now benefits the Caring Fund, which was created in 1983 to help Landis Homes residents who had exhausted their financial resources.

Three years ago, organizers began spreading the festivities out over several days. An online auction of items will begin on Sunday, Sept. 4, and end at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 11. The auction may be accessed by visiting http://www.landishomes.org and clicking on "Fellowship Days."

Landis Homes residents have used their talents to create items to be auctioned. Jackie Myers has made several quilt tops. Standing near an orange, blue, and white Wentworth pattern quilt and one with an abstract pattern of Canada geese she completed, Myers told of how she and her family received help in the form of quilts at their home in Belgium following World War II. As a child of 6, she found herself wanting to learn quilting. She came to America in 1961, but she did not learn quilting until she retired. "I started to make them to give back from what we had gotten," said Myers.

Wes Newswanger taught industrial arts at Lancaster Mennonite High School. When he came to Landis Homes, he put his talents to work building benches and coffee tables using live-edge cherry wood. "I would call it a bucket bench or a porch bench," said Newswanger of one piece he made. A coffee table he calls River of Glass, which features two pieces of live edge cherry held together by metal and covered with glass, will also be auctioned.

Elvin Stoltzfus worked on a number of pieces that will be go up for bids. Stoltzfus was tapped to refurbish a Benjamin Brubaker dollhouse with parquet floors made up of 7,000 individual pieces. Stoltzfus had the skills to work on the house because he began working on segmented bowls and other wooden items in 2015. He is contributing several of his works to the auction. "I cut all these pieces out, and they have to be glued together in layers and put on the lathe," Stoltzfus explained. "I was fascinated with this (process), and I started turning (pieces) out."

A tent will be erected in front of the Crossings area of the campus, and on Wednesday, Sept. 7, a by-donation pancake breakfast will be served from 8 to 10 a.m. Later that day, an ice cream social and a hymn sing will be held. Friends of the Woods and Wetlands will give a presentation at 6 p.m., which will be repeated at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 8. On Friday, Sept. 9, at 5 p.m., a parade featuring the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile will be held. The live music that evening will be based on a Liederkrantz theme with songs in German and English. On Saturday, Sept. 10, yard sales and a craft sale will be held, and food items will be sold. Children's activities will be held, and quilts will go over the block at a live auction from 1 to 2:30 p.m. From 5 to 8 p.m., the Brass Pocket Band will play and there will be a 50th anniversary celebration with cupcakes.