KALAHEO — The coveted sweet bread and rolls created from Glenda Vierra’s “secret” family recipe are back for the annual Holy Cross Ladies Alter Society bazaar. Doors to the fundraising bazaar open at 7 a.m. Saturday and remain open until
KALAHEO — The coveted sweet bread and rolls created from Glenda Vierra’s “secret” family recipe are back for the annual Holy Cross Ladies Alter Society bazaar.
Doors to the fundraising bazaar open at 7 a.m. Saturday and remain open until 1 p.m. with the sweet bread being joined by a variety of other items to benefit the women’s group.
“It’s easy to remember because it always falls on my birthday weekend,” said Maryann Manintin, a volunteer at the special bread-making session Thursday afternoon at the church’s Parish Hall. “People are here from as early as 4 a.m., waiting to get in.”
Joyce Silva, the bazaar chairperson, said in addition to the sweet bread, there will be other baked goods created by the Society’s members, including pickles, sushi, crafts, plants, vegetables and fruits.
“Make sure you tell them we’ll have gandule rice,” Manintin said, breaking out in a “Tom Dooley” tune. “It’s g-a-n-d-u-l-e, like ‘Hang down your head, Tom Dooley.’”
Silva said in addition to the prepared items, shoppers can also donate for the lucky drawing, which includes quilts, gift baskets and other prizes.
The good humored nature of the Ladies Alter Society is like what a popular credit card advertisement states — priceless.
“It’s the fact we wake up so early and mixed with the smell of all that sweet bread,” Manintin said. “We’ll be like this until after 1 p.m. Saturday.”
Silva said the ladies work to prepare 700 total sweet bread loaves and trays of sweet rolls for the bazaar, drawing from Glenda Vierra’s family recipe, Vierra standing by to supervise the mixing, baking and packaging of the sought-after delicacy.
“After I retired, I said I could come and help them,” said Scotty Vidinha, who admitted his birthday is today. “Glenda used to have the oven duty, but now that I’m retired, I can take over that duty so she can rest.”
Proceeds from the bazaar go toward the Holy Cross Ladies Alter Society and is for a good cause, he said.
“Of course, the primary use is for alter supplies,” Vidinha said. “But the ladies do more than just make sure the alter is kept up. They use the funds to help feed the homeless at the Kaua‘i Economic Opportunity emergency homeless shelter and transitional shelter program.”
The Society also helps feed children, Vidinha said.
“My wife Roxanne, who volunteers with the American Cancer Society on Fridays, also packs about 20 backpacks with snacks and other food for kids at ‘Ele‘ele Elementary School so they have food for the weekends. The students are selected through collaboration with the school’s principal and the A-Plus program,” he said. “Additionally, she gets some help from her classmates in the Kaua‘i High School Class of 1973 who go out and solicit money so she can purchase food for the backpacks.”
Vidinha said his wife is a cancer survivor and now spends a lot of time volunteering, extending her service to beyond the church and the American Cancer Society to Share the Care, administered by another community agency where she spends time in people’s homes who are suffering.
The Holy Cross Ladies Alter Society bazaar runs from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Holy Cross Church Parish Hall and one suggestion from the ladies is to come early because the bread runs out quickly.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
