Women mix ingredients with love for church sale

STREATOR, Ill. -- Laughter rings through the kitchen, and the aroma of freshly baked rolls fills the air as volunteers at St. Stephen's Church prepare for their biggest bake sale of the year.

The conversations are soft, the laughter is contagious and the aroma is tantalizing.

The Keebler Elves have nothing on the St. Stephen's Altar and Rosary Society, or the "holy rollers," as they refer to themselves. The women donned their white aprons to prepare for a day of baking traditional Slovak pastries such as rozek and kolach.

Kolach is the original pizza, said Frannie Higdon, coordinator of the baking event. "It's a round dough-filled pastry with prune, apricot or cottage cheese."

Rozek is an oblong roll with a variety of fillings such as apricot, nut, poppy seeds, raisins, raspberry, cherry, lemon, prune, or cottage cheese with white raisins.

"We make just about anything," Higdon said, "just call ahead."

"Today we're using 150 pounds of flour, three pounds of yeast, 15 pounds of sugar, 135 pounds of apricot, 30 pounds of nuts, five gallons of syrup and 30 pounds of butter," Higdon said.

This annual event began back in the 1930s, Higdon explained. They used to sell pumpkin pies, purchasing the pumpkin from a pumpkin factory and selling the baked goods off the back of a pickup truck. Since 1984, the church kitchen has turned into an assembly line of amateur pastry chefs.

The kitchen was filled recently with 18 busy women, six tables, two convection ovens, one professional mixer, 15 cake pans, numerous tubs full of dough, bowls of flour and lots of laughter.

"You know the saying, too many cooks spoil the broth. Well, this is one place where it isn't true," said Peggy Stimpert, one of the "holy rollers."

Twenty-four women, ages 48 to 90, volunteer their time and talents to bake for St. Stephen's.

"Of the ladies here, 30 percent are widows. It gives them a sense of accomplishment. They love what they do," Higdon said.

One of the nicest things about baking is the friendships that are formed, the women say.

"I love it. I can't wait to come down here," Marge Carrubba, 76, said as she continued to roll out the dough. She's been helping for three years.

"If it wasn't for Frannie, we wouldn't be here," said Mary Segovich, 77, who's been helping since 1984. "It's a blessing from heaven."