Auction for Missions

Saturday night I attended a silent auction --a fundraiser for our mission team to the  Dominican Republic.   
As well as items for auction, there was dessert and coffee. Lots and lots of desserts.  I think the sugar high was  designed to reduce bidder inhibitions. It certainly worked on me!

 I thought many bids were too low for the quality of the item up for auction, so I bumped up the bid.  I came home with four dozen roses -- and a few other items. Apparently, instead of boosting the prices, I discouraged other bidders. Good intentions gone awry.
Ah well, it's all in a good cause, as they say, and I've shared the roses with others.

The silent auction is a fun event, requiring enormous organization and a small army of workers. Sometimes it is the main event for funding the mission trip, other times it is an adjunct.  At SPPC we've been quietly fund-raising for many months.

workers

Some congregants have Thrifty's Smile Cards that ensures a portion of their grocery bills is donated to buy school supplies and medical items for the mission team to take with them.

more workers

More directly, we have a team of cooks who makes soup, meat pies and other goodies for sale. The food comes in small portions, it's tasty and it's economical. Many in our congregation have a big appetite for these small meals. 

Loved this, refrained from bidding

We also hold a bottle drive from January to March, adding a little more to the coffers and saving people a trip to the recycle depot.

All of these efforts mean that our mission team, Benjamin, Darlene, Diane and Joan, is well positioned for their trip to the Dominican Republic a few weeks from now.  

ready for fall

spring planter that I resisted

 Matthew 25:40: “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

Matthew 9:35-36 “Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.”

Whether we're making soup or buying roses, we too can show compassion for the distressed and dispirited in our world.

Auction Fever

   

 There's something about an auction that brings out the competitive spirit.  Last week, there were only a few bids on the items displayed about the Molloy Hall.  Today, the sheets filled up.  There was a puzzle maven in our midst who raised the bidding to new heights. 

  Despite his best efforts, I did manage to secure a couple of puzzles for myself.  I also had the winning bid on a pair of exquisitely cross-stitched hand towels.  They'll look very elegant in my guest bathroom.

  This hand-sewn quilt was a prize worth having.  The lady with the winning bid asked me to be sure to take its picture.

 I featured it last week but it's worth a second look.  Truly lovely.

   The excitement around the auction nearly eclipsed the treasures on the pot luck table -- nearly but not quite.  This congregation does enjoy breaking bread together.
   For those with enquiring minds, these mouth-watering brownies were made with zucchini!  Don't tell the children, they hate vegetables.

  There was food enough to go around.  

But it seems we ran out of table space.   Benjamin, all alone at the "kids" table.

Not to forget the purpose of the exercise, which was to raise funds to replace/repair the dishwasher.  Hence our faithful Felicity in the kitchen.

 Preliminary reports say the event earned approximately seven hundred dollars.  Well done everyone.
  Now, I'm off to work on a puzzle.

  

Washing Dishes

Working together for a common goal.

by Janet Smith

    This year, SPPC is celebrating the 25^th Anniversary of the church building. After 25 years things are beginning to wear out and that’s what is happening to our dishwasher having washed thousands of dishes for our many times of fellowship and breaking bread together as families do.  At home, all the relatives are expected to pitch in and help wash the dishes.  At church we can do that, but for convenience and health reasons we need to have a commercial dishwasher in the kitchen. These cost upwards of $5,000.00.

    So far we have held two small fundraising events, a “Junk from your Trunk Sale” and a “Hotdog Lunch” and to date we have only raised $450.00 and so we have a long way to go!

    Therefore, the Fellowship Committee is planning to hold a Silent Auction from Sunday 13 September through to Sunday 20 September. It will run for the week so that if you are at the church for any other meeting during that week you can take some time to look and consider your bids.

Do you want to stay behind and do dishes?

  To enable this to happen, we need your help and so we are asking for donations.  New or used items in good condition, along with your reserve bid attached, need to be at the church by  10^th September.

     Alternatively, you may offer a service that someone may like to bid on, such as cooking, baking, sewing, gardening, shopping and so on, even computer help!

     We would like all donations or services to be offered to be at the church by Thursday 10 September, Bin-Sie and Janet will be at the church between 10:00 and noon on that day to receive your donations.

     The best part of it all, and being good Presbyterians, we will close the auction with a Pot Luck lunch on Sunday 20^th September following the morning service at which time the highest bidders will receive their purchases.  Hopefully, on that day the dishwasher will continue to work!

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:1 Peter 4:10 ESV

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. Ecclesiastes 4:9 ESV

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, Colossians 3:23ESV