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Poster - Event Slides

This update is quite overdue, but before we move into Fall and prepare for school and sweaters and mixing spiced gourds into our coffees and quick breads, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge and thank the many, many individuals who contributed to this year’s church Rummage Sale. (there have been several discussions about the appropriate term since it is neither in a “garage” nor a “yard,” and so we have settled, at least for now, on “rummage”!)

For those who haven’t heard or have simply forgotten, we hosted a two-day sale in early July as a fundraising event for Saint John’s youth. The funds would be used to help with group activities, as well as to help with registration expenses for those interested in attending the Lutheran Valley Retreat. Members donated the items, and our volunteers organized, priced and sold them. At the end of those two days, the beautiful and bright Jeannie Benson and her counter team tallied up all the nickels and dimes and dollars and checks and declared that we had raised approximately $3,700! A success, indeed!

Typically an annual event, the last sale was held in 2019, and there was some catching up to do. Donations had been squirreled away in our building over the last three years and needed to be sorted and dusted and brought back out into the light. Two of our members generously donated estate items and entire wardrobes of loved ones who had passed. Other members had been holding onto donations and were eager to drop them off the week of the sale. Arlene Peters and Jo Fredin both donated a beautiful collection of houseplants, and shoppers scooped those up fervently! It was a busy week of preparation and our volunteers, each of whom was essential, are due a thorough and public display of gratitude. Let’s start with those who showed up daily and exceeded expectations in every way:

  • Jo and Del Fredin: Without their experience, guidance and steady hands we would’ve been so deeply entrenched in weeds on that first day that there would’ve been no getting out.
  • Laura Abel and Whitney Starck: if these two don’t start a packing and moving business together, that’d truly be a missed opportunity. These remarkable women brought so much order and ease to things that could’ve been chaotic; everything ran more smoothly because of them.
  • Tom Miles: if this were the mafia, Tom would be the “Cleaner.” If anything unforeseen happened, Tom stepped in and took care of it. He also moved heavy things effortlessly and went above and beyond when it came time to get rid of any unsold items.

There were many tasks to tend to between setting up and tearing down and I want to extend my sincerest appreciation to all who helped: Pastor Nettleton, Wendy Nettleton, Mary Hert, Cindy Starck, Greg Bruny, Tracy Young, LeOra Spence, Audrey Douglas, Jessica Stephens, Jennifer Wolf, Kathi Calvano, RoxAnn Karkhoff-Schweizer, Sharon Gibbons, Irene Mews Twogood, Fran Roth and Anita and Dale Walters. I also want to thank Nelly Sanford and Sue Gardner for providing a blueprint and sharing their tips, Linda Funke for being an incredible cheerleader, as well as a thank you to anyone who donated items or baked goods for our bake sale.

These lists are not yet complete as there is one last group who turned up and were wonderful: our kids! Emily, Harley, Kaitlyn (and Kaitlin’s friend Kiera), Ellie, Lucy, Olivia, Alaina, Presley, Connelly, McCoy, Silas, Hannah, Nicholas, Alexander, Caleb, Alice and Gabriel. These kids spent hours helping un-box and set-up and price and sell items. They ran the bake sale and made signs to hold by the street to attract traffic. They provided excellent customer service and were cheerful and responsible and vital to the event’s success.

As rewarding as it was to have made money that will get put to good use, nothing tops witnessing the camaraderie and fellowship that took place over the course of the week. We got to spend time together in a way that has not been afforded us in a good long while, we got to encourage each other at the end of a long week, and we got to eat meals and chat and know each other a little bit better. To see our doors open and our halls filled with people was a complete delight. The fire, I think, has been lit. Let’s keep it burning!

Saint John’s Youth Ministry teaches and plans activities for the middle school and high school students of the congregation, including Sunday morning Bible study, midweek confirmation classes (typically grades six and seven) and fellowship get-togethers.