Our end of year Fairfield story is about Kay Ferguson, born and raised in St. Joesph, MO and relocated to Fairfield in 1984.

Many of you know Kay as the person whose house you went to with your parents where you ate so many of her famous “protein balls” that your mom had to hide the bowl!

Kay is the oldest of 6 siblings and until her Parkinson’s got the best of her, she ran a thriving Shaklee business which is now handled by her son Bob. Kay ran the business out of her home on E. Burlington avenue from 1984-2000 with an employee  who fulfilled orders from her home office.

During that time, Kay held meetings at her home to invigorate her distributors, educate customers, and indoctrinate new distributors. Many of those attendees brought their kids who were only too happy to munch on Kay’s protein balls which she originally created to demonstrate how tasty the products she sold could be while providing the added benefit of instant protein. The balls were kept in a little Chinese box which all of the kids became accustomed to. In fact, Eileen Hawthorne’s kids were so crazy for them that they were on a limit to how many they could have on any given visit!  A combination of honey, fiber crunch, cashew butter and, of course, instant protein, Kay’s protein balls are almost as legendary in Fairfield as Kay herself has become.

Kay also held dinners which typically drew as many as 15 people who would enjoy each others company and tell stories about, well, anything they wanted to including their experiences with Shaklee products that helped them with various ailments. Ann Lamansky from Brighton for example, has fibromyalgia which became debilitating to the extent of not being able to even sit on the floor to play with her kids. Ann started taking Shaklee products and as a result, increased her energy and vigor. She was so impressed with her own success with the products that she became a distributor as well.

What amazed me most as I talked to Kay, who is now 89 and still as vibrant as can be, was how she reminisced about her business and those who attended her dinners as being a part of “the family”. You see, her business and all of those who partook were and still are family to Kay. Obviously, this became a recipe for success, but for Kay, it was simply a natural thing to do. Her belief in the products she sells, and in the friendships she has created is what enabled her, and now her son’s, success in their business. And after doing some extra snooping into the company – Shaklee – I can understand why. Yes, it is a network marketing business. But it really seems to be unlike those that we’re most familiar with. Not unlike Kay’s natural approach to building her business, Shaklee is about creating relationships and spreading the wealth. And although it is not my cup of tea per se, if you are interested in what Shaklee calls “social marketing” , I’d encourage you to find out more about the possibilities here.

Until the time that she was 82, Kay would drive from Fairfield to Boston, Connecticut and all the way to Maine to meet with her distributors and their prospects -  two times a year.  Although she can’t do that drive any longer, and has turned the business over to Bob, Kay continues to use her home as a gathering place. In lieu of business, the Garden Club, writing group, and peer group are where Kay spends most of her time these days.

An avid gardener, Kay grows all of the vegetables she can eat, various fruits, and numerous flowers in her well kept yard. She has so many apples in fact that in addition to barrels and barrels of apple sauce, Kay and her son who lives in Illinois can 50-60 quarts a year that they sell to a Slovakian Strudel maker in Bloomington, IL.

The writing group was started by Kay to preserve her and her friends’ memories of their children’s childhood  so that they are not lost. Many times when these parents tell their children about what they wrote about, the kids hadn’t even recalled what had happened…

The group Kay seems most proud of which also greatly interested me is what she calls the peer group. This group of as many as 27 people are Kay’s peers – vital, active people from 70 to well into their 90’s. Some are retired, many are not. A pot-luck format, Kay always makes a hot casserole and they almost always end up with a complete meal. Each meeting has a theme. The largest this year was when Bob (her son) discussed sustainability with the group. December’s meeting (held after I interviewed Kay) was themed “Christmases I Remember”  where they told stories of Christmas with their families as their kids were growing up.

When asked about her favorite thing to do in Fairfield, Kay’s response was expected. “To help people work as people and to do what she can, where she can, and when she can.” Bob added that it’s hard to go to HyVee with Kay as she is always stopped by old and new friends and acquaintances whose lives that Kay has touched.

Kay loves Fairfield and appreciates small town life. If she had one wish, it would be to “live the way we used to live.” This translates to being more self-sufficient, growing our own food, living off of the land. “Going to the grocery is just not natural” said Kay. Any wonder why she chose a “green” company to represent and has a son who is the committee chair of Fairfield’s sustainability effort?

Next time you see in her in HyVee, say “hi” to one of Fairfield’s true gems, Kay Ferguson.

Welcome back to this week’s installment of Fairfield Stories. This week, we’re featuring the annual Thanksgiving feed held at the First United Methodist Church, just off of the square.

This event has taken place every year for the past 5 years. I first found out about the event from Dave Goehring,  who works for Pierson and Pierson Plumbing, when he was under my sink a few days before Thanksgiving this year. After thanking him profusely for fixing it prior to my company arriving, Dave asked how many people we’d be having for dinner. When I responded with “10″ he chuckled and said, “oh that’s not so many.” That begged the question, “how many are you having Dave?” The answer “Oh, 300 or so.”

With that, I asked Dave to meet me at Second Street for a cup of coffee as I knew that this was a story that needed to be told.

5 years ago the Church sent a group of students on a mission to the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Lame Deer, Montana. After an exhilarating few days helping out in any way they could, one of the students wondered aloud why they have to go so far away to help people. Why couldn’t they do it in their own town? The Thanksgiving Feed was conceived.

That first year they fed 61 people. Associate Pastor Dave Peterson still has a momento of that event that practically brought tears to Dave Goehring’s eyes when he described it to me. It’s a napkin. A napkin with a note written on it from the very first person they fed that evening, expressing his appreciation for the feast.

The feed has grown enormously since that first year. Dave has been running it for two years now and as you’d imagine with giving souls like Dave, his wife Rhonda, his daughter Amy (who is now away at college) and even his parents work with him to plan and execute this amazing local event.

They feed people from “all walks of life” according to Dave. Who, by the way is so humble that he wouldn’t allow me to take a picture of him and he insisted that I give as little credit to him as possible. Surely, it takes a village, and as you’d imagine, he gave Christ his due, but it also takes a leader and IMHO there seems to be no better leader for an endeavor like this than Dave Goehring…

So back to the feed. Not only does First Methodist participate, but so do other congregations from around Fairfield. Volunteers come from as many walks of life as the people who are fed, and they do everything from outreach about the event, to cooking, serving and clean-up. Dave characterized the volunteer effort as a “family reunion” that comes together once the word is put out to local churches. According to Dave “it just happens.”

In 2009, 230 people were fed by Dave and his crew of about 40 volunteers. The meal included numerous turkeys donated by the local Hy-Vee, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, dinner rolls, cranberry sauce (new this year) and 15-20 different home baked pies served in the “pie room” as Dave referred to it. “Something for everybody.”

The feed doesn’t just serve people at the Church either. A few years ago, they took on Meals-on-Wheels duties on Thanksgiving Day which happened after parishoner Jack Glass who was heaily involved in Meals-on-Wheels passed a few years ago. They also serve other folks who are too feeble to leave their homes and who are not a part of Meals-on Wheels. This effort served about 70 of the 230 people who were served in 2009.

The entire event comes together in about 2-3 weeks. The call goes out and the volunteers just start working. Right up to Thanksgiving day conversations such as “can we use another pie?” occur and another one is delivered to the pie room.  Dave doesn’t ever worry about it coming together – it just does. In fact the only complaint he ever gets is that there’s too much food. So as you’d imagine, there are doggie-bags for all – with extra helpings of pie, of course.

This Thanksgiving feed not only has something for everybody, but is attended by everybody – rich, poor, religious, non-religious, townie, meditator. This year a family of 13 showed up. And as powerful a draw as free, home-cooked food is, Dave believes that most people are showing up for the atmosphere and cameraderie as most stay long after the food stops being served.

As Dave said in closing about his experience with the Thanksgiving feed, “truly a gift” and I do believe that it is.