{"id":35083,"date":"2017-10-02T13:03:20","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T17:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=35083"},"modified":"2017-10-12T14:03:04","modified_gmt":"2017-10-12T18:03:04","slug":"virginia-mennonite-relief-sale-sets-record-pace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/virginia-mennonite-relief-sale-sets-record-pace\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale sets record pace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The central Shenandoah Valley landscape may be parched for lack of rain in September, but at the Rockingham County Fairgrounds a flood of volunteers, donors and buyers joined together to help set what will likely be a new fundraising record at the 51st annual Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Preliminary figures indicate this year\u2019s sale, held Friday and Saturday, raised about $360,000 for the worldwide relief, service and peacebuilding program of the Mennonite Central Committee. Last year\u2019s effort raised $338,430; the highest amount ever raised was $372,901 in 2014.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Willow Run, a group of musicians from Eastern Mennonite University, performs during Friday evening’s dinner.\u00a0From left:\u00a0Perry Blosser, Megan Bishop, Jon Bishop ’17 and Joseph Harder.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n

\u201cOnce all expenses reports are finalized, we expect to break that record sales total,\u201d said Dave Rush of Harrisonburg, relief sale chair. \u201cWe generally see an additional $20,000 to $40,000 coming in after the sale until we arrive at our final total.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Activities began Friday evening with a barbecue beef dinner, music by local performers Willow Run and the start of the live and silent auction and ran through Saturday afternoon. Nearly 1,000 volunteers again offered their time and talents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The annual auction of handmade quilts, wall hangings, knotted comforters and afghans, artwork and wooden handcrafted items accounted for $131,894 of the total raised. Total funds raised also included $26,083 from the annual \u201cMy Coins Count\u201d project, up from $22,183 last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Area congregations, schools, homes and businesses collect coins and currency in large water jugs for weeks, then bring their containers to the sale for sorting and tabulating done by employees of Park View Federal Credit Union. \u200bThis year\u2019s funds will go toward meeting children\u2019s\u2019 basic needs in Albania, Jamaica, Southeast Asia and Uganda through projects of Virginia Mennonite Missions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Ridgeway Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg again topped the \u201cMy Coins Count\u201d list of 31 participating congregations with $2,832 followed by Park View Mennonite Church with $2,553 and Weavers Mennonite Church west of Harrisonburg with $1,704.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The final coin-collection total is likely to be higher with some matching funds and other gifts yet to come in, according to Rush. \u200b<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

This year, the Relief Sale board promoted a new opportunity to add to the total relief sale giving through a \u201cSharing Our Surplus\u201d campaign spearheaded by local pastor, counselor and community advocate Harvey Yoder [Editor’s note: Yoder graduated in 1964 from Eastern Mennonite College and in 1999 from Eastern Mennonite Seminary; he was recognized as Alumnus of the Year in 2016<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
EMU juniors Julie Burkhardt (left) of Perkasie, Pennsylvania, and Bekah Mongold, of Mathias,\u00a0West Virginia,\u00a0prepare to box donuts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n

A special table was set up during the entire sale for persons to donate money to MCC\u2019s work with Syrian refugees. Yoder reported that $35,575 came in for this initiative.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Yoder encouraged relief sale attendees to think of giving in the spirit of Jubilee \u2014 \u201cabove regular tithes and offerings, and not result in decreased giving elsewhere.\u201d He went on to offer a challenge for persons to \u201cwillingly become poorer for Christ\u2019s sake.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

A 105-inch-by-95-inch chain heart quilt in tan, brown and maroon, pieced anonymously and quilted by Nancy Heatwole of Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community, took the top bid of $3,500. A 9-foot-by-12-foot Royal Taj\/Keshan black Oriental rug by Obee Tee of Third Hill Farm, Quicksburg, went for $5,000.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0A slant-top walnut desk with dovetail, mortise and tenon construction handcrafted by Norman Lambert of North Carolina was auctioned for $4,000. And a 1951 Farmall Super C International Harvester tractor, donated anonymously, went for $1,800.<\/div>\n
\n

The homemade glazed doughnut operation got underway in the early morning hours Saturday, with 18,000 of the confectionery delights sold. John and Jennifer Murch and their four children of Linville headed up the doughnut-making for a second year. [Read more on Jennifer’s blog<\/a>.]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Other traditional food items included 150 gallons of Brunswick stew made on the premises by members of Springdale Mennonite Church in Augusta County, homemade apple butter and fresh cider, 2,000 barbecued chicken halves, chili, and Indian dishes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

A Mississippi catfish dinner was available for the first time and quickly sold out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cAn especially big thank you goes out to the many volunteers who gave of their time and energy to make this remarkable event possible,\u201d Rush said. \u201cAlso thanks to the many donors and buyers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cIt brings me much joy to see us all work together to raise money to help others around the world whom Jesus calls us to serve,\u201d he added. \u201cMay we continue to do this not just on this [relief sale] weekend, but each and every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Next year\u2019s sale will return to its regular first weekend in October 2018.<\/p>\n

Republished with permission from the Oct. 2, 2017, Daily News-Record.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The central Shenandoah Valley landscape may be parched for lack of rain in September, but at the Rockingham County Fairgrounds a flood of volunteers, donors and buyers joined together to ... read more about Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale sets record pace<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,5589,14715,17562,8845,14145],"tags":[],"feature":[17427,17241],"class_list":["post-35083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-bible-and-religion","category-campus-life","category-digest","category-emu-at-lancaster","category-peacebuilding-and-development","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-news-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nVirginia Mennonite Relief Sale sets record pace - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/virginia-mennonite-relief-sale-sets-record-pace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale sets record pace - 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