Soup supper; Women's retreat; Murder mystery  dinner; Kids Against Hunger

Soup supper Thursday

First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) will host its final soup supper of the season from 5-6:30 p.m. Thursday.

Soup, pies, relish and Kenny?s Cornbread will be served for a free will offering. Proceeds will go toward the purchase of a new baptistry at the church.

Women?s retreat planned

A women?s retreat by Christ?s Strength is planned April 23-24 at Heartland Christian Camp in Birmingham.

Pam Braman from Eagan, Minnesota, will be the guest speaker. She is a pastor, adventurer, writer, spiritual director and, occasionally, a thrower of pots. She will be teaching about women from the Bible, sometimes in dramatic narrative form.

Prizes will be given away throughout the weekend, with the grand prize winner drawn during lunch April 24.

A silent auction to raise money to feed people in the Chicago area through Olive Branch Ministries is planned. Those attending should bring new, homemade or gently used items for the auction.

An offering will be taken during the weekend to help with campground updates or future camp expenses.

The retreat starts with registration at 8 a.m. April 23 and concludes with the noon meal on April 24. Housing is available April 22 for an additional fee.

For details about fees, housing and information, contact Diane Hall at 319-498-4219 or rghall@netins.net or call Steph Brown at 319-230-7741.

Church hosting murder mystery dinner April 30

SALEM ? Hillsboro Christian Church will host a mystery dinner theater at 5 p.m. April 30 in the Salem Community Building in Salem.

The tables will be set in a candlelit western theme. The evening begins with a cheese tasting, followed by supper, with glazed roast beef, twice-baked mashed potatoes, baked string beans, apple coleslaw, and Texas buttermilk sheet cake.

Bubba?s Café in Deadwood, Texas, is normally filled on Saturday night with karaoke, laughter, and fun, but tonight the stench of murder hangs heavy. Bubba has been found dead in his office. Who could have done it? The cast includes Carrie Meyer as Crystalline; Dorothy Gilbert as Twyla Fleetwood; DJ Meyer as Dusty Diamond; Ed Griffiths as Rowdy Lawless; James Meyer as Carny Folk; Jared Hanny as Reverend Jim Bob Eternity; Bomita Cass as Mary Kay Eternity; and Cairistiona Handy as Sheriff Sissy Lawson.

Reservations are required. Tickets are $25. For reservations and information, call Kathy Meyer at 319-931-9836 or Michelle Griffiths at 319-931-9837.

Profits from the event will be divided between English River Outfitters, a nonprofit veterans group from Washington, Iowa, and the Rett Syndrome Foundation.

Kids Against Hunger volunteers pack meals

Approximately 136 volunteers packed 31,104 meals for Kids Against Hunger Sunday afternoon in the Word of Life Lutheran Church gym.

This was the eighth group-packing event the six participating area churches have held. Volunteers have packed a total of 226,572 meals.

Another packing event is scheduled in the fall under the new name of Take Away Hunger.

The local coordinator for Feed The Hungry is First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). For information, call 472-2520.