LFCS organizes annual Cape Girardeau Holiday Home Tour

A selection of Cape Girardeau homeowners have been decorating their homes for the annual Holiday Home Tour on Saturday.

The tour will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The six decorated homes will have a hostess to answer questions and discuss the home.

Funds from the tour benefit the local chapter of the Lutheran Family and Children's Services of Missouri, a not-for-profit social services agency.

The LFCS Southeast office has been in Cape Girardeau for more than 30 years and serves counties from Butler to Ste. Genevieve. The agency helps families, children and individuals by providing birth-parent counseling, case management, adoption services, emergency foster care, older adult counseling and youth mentoring, said Melody Anderson, regional development officer for LFCS.

Despite the name of the agency, Anderson said a majority of the people served are not Lutheran. "It doesn't matter what race or religion, we're here to serve the entire community," she said.

The Roth home

Anderson said this year's Holiday Home Tour has a group of interesting and beautiful homes.

"I spoke with some of our organizers. and we feel this may be the best group of homes we've had," she said.

Homes on the tour include:

The Williams home

• The Schumer home at 1281 County Road 638: Construction of the home began in late 2000 by the late Jerry Davis, and was finished in 2003. The home is occupied by Mike and Tina Schumer.
• The Galemore home at 393 Kinsington Lane: The European old-world style home is situated on a two-acre lot and is occupied by Richard and Deborah Galenore.
• The Rickard apartment at 19 S. Spanish St.: Built in the 1920s as the corporate office of the A&P Grocery Store, John and Jerriann Wyman converted the upstairs office into an apartment in 2004. The apartment is now occupied by Ben Rickard.
• The Mueller home at 415 Kinsington Lane: The home, with country French architecture is occupied by Ken and Sharon Mueller.
• The Williams home at 164 Royal Oak Drive: The home is situated on three acres of land and overlooks the city of Cape Girardeau. It is occupied by Stan and Sandi Williams.
• The Roth home at 3107 Beavercreek Drive: The home was inspired by an 18th-century English cottage and is occupied by Dennis and Joan Roth.

Between 500 and 600 people usually participate in the holiday tour. Tickets are $25 at the door the day of the tour, or $20 in advance. Tickets are available at the LFCS office at 2911 Breckenridge Drive in Cape Girardeau and several area businesses, including Sunny Hill, Patrick Furniture, Southeast Missouri Hospital's gift shop, all Bank of Missouri locations and Bi-State Southern convenience stores.

The Galemore home

For more information, call 334-5866.

jfreeze@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 246