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Holy Name Society Sausage Fundraiser celebrates 50 years

This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the Timmins Holy Name Society’s Sacred Heart Chapter’s Sausage Fundraiser weekend.
This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the Timmins Holy Name Society’s Sacred Heart Chapter’s Sausage Fundraiser weekend.
 
Mark Lionello one of the coordinators of the event said that over 6,000 pounds of sausage will be produced by volunteers.
 
Now into its 50th year officially, though some say it may have been going on as early as 1958, though in a less vigorous form.
 
Orders are taken prior to ordering the meat and sold for $5 per pound.
 
The funds generated by the Holy Name Society are used to help maintain Sacred Heart Church and parish in the Moneta district of Timmins which for years has been the centre of the Italian Community.
 
A refrigerator trailer containing the meat supply was parked in the Sacred Heart parking lot at the corner of Kirby Avenue and Cedar Street.
 
Inside, on Saturday morning approximately 50-75 people of all ages from teens to the over 70 collaborated at several stations to produce the sausage.
 
One station ground the slabs of pork into a mountain of ground meat.
 
Another station shapes the ground pork into bowling ball size clumps that are ready for insertion in the sausage stuffing machine which has a three person team: one puts the ground pork into the bowl and pats it down, the second turns the crank handle which moves the ground pork down the barrel of the stuffing machine and into an intestine casing until it is completely filled.
 
The long strands of sausage are then twisted and knotted into a sausage link by experts who expertly fashion them into links of sausage in mere seconds.
 
The linked sausages then are weighed and bagged into 2 and 5 pound bags ready for order pick up.
 
Mild and hot sausage is made and available for order.
 
As in previous years all 6,000 plus pounds of sausage have been purchased in advance and the Holy Name Society is sold out for 2015.
 
However, there is always next year.
 
People interested should get in touch with the Timmins Holy Name Society for placing and order for 2016.
 
But you if you want to place an order remember it pick-up only as the Holy Name Society does not provide delivery service.

Frank Giorno

About the Author: Frank Giorno

Frank Giorno worked as a city hall reporter for the Brandon Sun; freelanced for the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star. He is the past editor of www.mininglifeonline.com and the newsletter of the Association of Italian Canadian Writers.
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