Lutheran Children & Family Services-SEMO stays virtual with Dec. 11 holiday home tour

For the second consecutive year, the Dec. 11 Lutheran Family and Children Services of Southeast Missouri Holiday Home Tour will remain an online-only event.

The not-for-profit's 33rd annual tour, with tickets priced at $25, will be accessible remotely in 2021 because of the potential impact of COVID-19's omicron variant. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday the first case of omicron COVID in the United States was identified in San Francisco.

"We wanted to do a partially in-person and partially virtual tour but we need people willing to allow potentially hundreds of people to walk through their residences," said Christy O'Neal, LFCS regional development officer. "There were not a lot of homeowners ready to open their homes yet this year. The tour turned out great last year with people watching from their own homes and we decided virtual is better than nothing at all."

O'Neal said once a patron pays the home tour fee, an email will be generated with instructions how to access the Dec. 11 event, adding the online link will remain active through Dec. 31.

The home of Dennis and Summer Riney of Cape Girardeau is part of the Dec. 11 online-only LCFS Holiday Home Tour.Submitted

Tour residences

This year's showcase, O'Neal said, features six homes in the City of Cape Girardeau — five of which have never before been part of the holiday home tour.

The homes of Rick and Tracy Blattner, Bob and Jackie Gardner, Micky and Kathi Harvey, Bert and Mary Ann Kellerman, Scott and Samantha Rhodes and Dennis and Summer Riney are all on this year's tour list.

"The Holiday Home Tour is our only fundraising event for the Cape office," O'Neal said.

LFCS-Southeast Missouri covers an 18-county region: Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Carter, Dunklin, Iron, Madison, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Perry, Reynolds, Ripley, Saint Francois, Ste. Genevieve, Scott, Stoddard and Wayne.

"We still have children and families who desperately need our help, and with the home tour being virtual, LFCS hopes to see an increase in ticket sales," O'Neal said.

O'Neal said LFCS plans to use tour proceeds to fund programs out of the Cape Girardeau office — including adoption, parenting, crisis pregnancy and counseling services.

"We have had a lot of good response for the virtual option for people who don't like to get out or drive to all the homes or who worry about the weather," she said.

Brian Gerau, president of the Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce, will act as guide for the online tour.

The Cape Girardeau home of Bert and Mary Ann Kellerman, known as the Missouri Flag House or the Oliver-Leming home, is on the LCFS of Southeast Missouri 2021 Holiday Home Tour.Submitted

How to watch

Tickets may be purchased by texting HOMETOUR to 50155, or online at www.lfcsmo.org/2021-tour.

They may also be purchased with cash or check in person at Heartland Floor Covering or at Patrick Furniture.

For more information about the Holiday House Tour, contact O'Neal at (573) 380-5277.