Vision 2000's second annual "Lunch at the Seminary" could be its last, depending on what is announced at a Friday press conference.

The Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation has been trying to buy Old St. Vincent's Seminary for nearly two years, with plans to make it a tourist and cultural center. Foundation members were unable to pay off the Vincentian Fathers, who own the property, and the seminary was scheduled to be sold on the Common Pleas Courthouse steps in early September.

That sale was delayed a week, then canceled. At the cancellation, David Roth, attorney for the Vincentians, said his clients were impressed with the progress the Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation made in gathering support from the community. The two parties planned to settle the matter in private.

On Wednesday, Foundation President Mary Robertson said a press conference on the sale was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday at the seminary. Although she wouldn't elaborate on the planned announcement, she said it would settle the issue of the Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation's involvement with the seminary purchase.

Since the start of negotiations with the Vincentian Fathers, it has been business as usual on the seminary grounds. Several events have been set there, including Wednesday's luncheon sponsored by Vision 2000.

The city-appointed group is committed to make Cape Girardeau a better place to live by the year 2000. According to Melvin Gateley, a Vision 2000 member and city councilman, the group's projects have included improving accessibility for disabled people, educating people on ballot issues and saving money so students who graduate in 2000 can have extra scholarships.

Members are striving to register at least 90 percent of those eligible to vote in the city and to get at least 75 percent of registered voters to the polls in each election.

The seminary luncheon is Vision 2000's biggest fund-raiser. The money is used to print information and buy other odds and ends needed to meet goals.

"All the funds we obtain come from donations," Gateley said. "We don't go to the city and ask for money. We go to the citizens and ask if they want things done."

Members of the community supported Wednesday's event, which raised about $600.

Jeff Hawk stopped by for lunch and stayed to tour the seminary. The Cape Girardeau native said it was the first time she had done so.

"With Colonial Cape Foundation so desperate to save the seminary, I was afraid this would be my last chance to see it," Hawk said. "It is just too beautiful to lose."