LITTLE ROCK — Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church will bustle Dec. 5 with a lot more than the regular worship service and Sunday School classes.
Actually, a lot more goes on every Sunday at 1601 S. Louisiana St. in the brick Gothic Revival building graced with Queen Anne features. Fulfilling its chosen calling as a mission church to neighbors in need, the congregation hosts two weekly meals for the homeless and others down on their luck.
Members prepare and serve a community breakfast to more than 100 hungry guests from 9 to 10 a.m. Sundays, then welcome another 100 or more at 3 p.m. for a “stone soup” one-dish meal in the Fellowship Hall.
But the big deal on Dec. 5 will be a once-a-year event - the Christmas inthe Quarter homes tour. Running from 2 to 6 p.m., this is the church’s main general fundraiser, which facilitates continuation of its mission work and other endeavors, in keeping with the motto on a sign outside the entrance: “Love all. Serve all. Give all.”
“We’re preparing for at least 600 visitors on this year’s tour,” says Celia Bernheimer, Christmas in the Quarter chairman.
“We had 300 people last December, but this year we’ve hired a publicist and are doing a lot more publicity, so we hope to double that number,” Bernheimer says. “Most people will wait until Dec. 5 to buy their ticket, which is the wrong thing to do. The lines get very long around 1:30. If you don’t already have a ticket, we suggest showing up at 2:30 or later, once the crowds have thinned.”
Tickets are $20 for the seventh annual tour, which begins at the church and takes in five distinctive Quapaw Quarter homes. Two trolleys will provide shuttle service from house to house, or participants can drive their vehicle. Tickets can be bought in advance at the church’s website, qqumc.org. Tour information is available at (501) 375-1600.
The five tour houses are:
Ault House, 2017 S. Arch St. Built in 1919, the house has an exterior mainly in Craftsman style. The interior is predominantly Colonial Revival, highlighted by two original chandeliers and plaster crown molding.
Robinwood B&B, 2021 S. Arch St. Dating to 1913 with an exterior inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie style, the house was bought in 2004 by Karen Ford, who has opened it as a bed-and-breakfast after major restoration.
Reichardt House, 1201 Welch St. The Folk Victorian architecture of this 1871 home has remained remarkably unchanged inside. The parlor is thought to be the oldest intactroom in Little Rock.
Holtzman-Vinsonhalter House, 500 E. Ninth St. Built in 1890 in American Queen Anne style, the house was turned into apartments in 1942, and one former owner tried to burn it down. The present owners have meticulously restored it to a singlefamily dwelling since 1992.
Kirby House, 1221 S. Louisiana St. S.B. Kirby, who built this house in 1886, was known as the Sewing Machine King of Arkansas. The house was converted into apartments in 1926 and later became a sanctuary for vagrants until bought in 1992 by the current owner, who continues to restore it.
“It takes almost all our active members to bring the tour off,” Bernheimer says. “About 30 people from the congregation make and bake the finger food that will be served at two of the houses, along with Christmas punch. Another 60 will volunteer in the church and homes on Dec. 5. We’ll have organ music at the church and carolers on a couple of the porches. Two of the houses have pianos, so there’ll be pianists playing seasonal music.”
As Bernheimer describes it, the tour is “a non-commercial celebration. Touring these historic homes allows visitors to step back to a more genteel time when life was lived at a slower pace. When families gathered every evening without today’s many distractions. When Christmas was a more reflective and meaningful holiday - literally a holy day.”
A retired hospital grant manager, Bernheimer joined QQUMC five years ago. She’s part of the church’s revival in the last decade. Down to about 30 members at one point, the congregation now totals around 300. It prospered with the arrival of the Rev. Betsy Singleton, placed there on a mission assignment in 2002. She set up an art and spirituality center before retiring as senior pastor last year, and eight artists now have their studios in the church building.
Along with the two meals served each Sunday, members operate a pantry that gives out 10,000 bags of food a year. Its newest mission is a pet-food ministry started four years ago.
“We’ve really seen the impact of the recession in the change in the type of people coming to our community breakfasts,” says Bernheimer. “We have the regulars who are homeless. That stays the same. But we also are getting a lot of people for whom obviously this is the first time they need a place to go to be fed.”
The congregation’s continuing growth has a focus, she says: “One primary target when it comes to membership is the non-churched. Most of the people at Quapaw haven’t been going to church for all that long. Some of us have, of course. But to a lot of us, it is relatively new. We truly believe that churches should absolutely be for everyone.”
High Profile, Pages 43 on 11/28/2010