Jefferson City woman's tea party raises funds for charity

Bobbie Herman, middle, greets Mary Ann Hyleck, right, and Karen Connell on Wednesday as Barbara Kalberloh hosted a tea party at her home. The gathering was to raise money for Goldschmidt Cancer Center and for the annual Boost BBQ today.
Bobbie Herman, middle, greets Mary Ann Hyleck, right, and Karen Connell on Wednesday as Barbara Kalberloh hosted a tea party at her home. The gathering was to raise money for Goldschmidt Cancer Center and for the annual Boost BBQ today.

Barbara Kalberloh hosted an afternoon tea Wednesday.

That's not unusual.

Kalberloh is well-known for her events, which raise money for a number of charities. In the past two years, she's hosted at least 30, her husband Ralph, said.

Kalberloh, a cancer survivor, regularly invites ladies into her home to help raise money for multiple good causes. She has served as the chairwoman for the Boost BBQ, which will take place for the 26th time tonight.

However, even for the highly energetic woman, the schedule was demanding.

And, she stepped away from her role there.

She had another idea.

"I will do a tea party for you every year," she told the barbecue organizers.

Wednesday's event raised money for the Goldschmidt Cancer Center and tonight's Boost BBQ. Kalberloh was one of three cancer survivors at the event.

"(The tea party) is my gift back for how lucky I've been," she said.

The barbecue began as a rummage sale in the back room of Naught Naught Agency 27 years ago, according to Capital Region Medical Center's website. It has raised more than $800,000 and provided nutritional supplements and wigs for uncountable cancer patients who could not afford them.

A few years ago, organizers shifted Boost BBQ to serve the medical center's foundation.

Carryout from the barbecue will be available 4:30-7 p.m. Dine-in (and a silent auction) will be open 5-7 p.m.

The event is at the Jefferson City Jaycees Fairgrounds. Tickets are $15. Each ticket entitles the holder to barbecue and soda. Ticket-holders who are 21 and older will also receive two beer tickets each.

Kalberloh raised more than $515 for the cause Wednesday.

About 20 retired Jefferson City-area residents attended the afternoon tea, including four of the ladies' husbands. As each person arrived, Ralph cheerfully greeted them.

For the most part, men gravitated to one room and women to another.

Several men sat at a table off Kalberloh's kitchen - talking about weather, hay and golf.

Maurice Schulte said he's about to begin his third hay cutting this summer. He's already put up more than 200 large round bales, and more are coming. The downside, he said, is because of the volume available, the price of hay has dropped about 50 percent this year.

That's OK, the hay isn't going bad. He will need some for his own cattle.

Schulte, 80, and Ralph, 94, talk about their morning golf game at Jefferson City Country Club. In the scramble event, they managed a score of 74, but the winning score was 70.

That wasn't too bad, especially since they followed up the game with a platter of wings at the country club's restaurant.

Out in the dining room, people discovered what friends they had in common. Kalberloh had invited an unusual mix of friends to the event.

And they talked about the tornado.

Late in the evening of May 22, a tornado ripped through part of Eldon, left Miller County and continued up through Cole County. It eventually hit a strip of East Jefferson City, before crossing the Missouri River and dissipating.

Bob and Bobbie Herman sheltered in their basement, they said. They heard jingling sounds, but not the "freight train" witnesses often describe. When it was done, they went upstairs and found very little inside their house had been touched. Windows had blown out. A plant on a window sill was gone. However, most of their property inside the home was spared.

Outside, however, the trees were gone. And, one tree limb pierced their roof and ended up in an upstairs bathroom.

They were safe, though.

Even without power, they stayed in the home. Bob developed pneumonia, but he's recovering.

Schulte said he felt lucky. He had a recreational vehicle in a garage west of town. His brother called and said he would go check on it. Thirty minutes later, he called again and said he had bad news.

The garage was gone and the RV was destroyed.

Everybody was OK, though.

As they talked, those gathered snacked on steamy rolls, chicken salad, cucumber finger sandwiches and fruit.

And when they were finished, Kalberloh asked them to introduce themselves. There were cancer survivors and veterans. Each had unique stories.

And their new friends applauded when Mary Anne and Dick Hyleck told them they'd been married 62 years and when the Hermans told them they'd been married 66 years.