Spring Fling a Success!

How does one measure success? Regarding fundraisers, you would think it would be measured by how much money was raised for whatever cause was behind the fundraiser.

The weather cooperated with us, it being a perfectly beautiful day to hold a Spring Fling.

I don't know how much was raised at this time, but I can say that our Spring Fling, in which I was not involved in the planning stages, but had my hand in painting a game booth, was a veritable success.

I base this on the number of new faces I saw on our church lawn. People I knew in the community, possibly from other churches, and many parents or grandparents of students at my school, came to participate in the games and eat the good ol' southern barbecue style chicken.

As I floated about the games area, admiring the handiwork of the volunteers who planned and set everything up, I took lots of pictures. I included a few here in this entry. You get the idea. Small country church has a first time fundraiser event in the spring, and a pretty decent turn-out I might add.

I think the adults were having as much fun as the kids. Even the Youth were there in numbers, manning the booths, applying "tatoos", coaxing the children to test their throwing skills, or putting skills. There was a bean bag tic-tac-toe game, a basketball net set up for those inclined to shoot a free throw, a ring toss, horse-shoes, a duck pond, the baseball throw, a football throw, fishing booth, air bouncer, and a ventriloquist with his puppet, James.

There was a woman, Patti the Clown, who could tie balloons into just about any shape or form, creating swords, aliens, princess crowns, monkeys on palm trees, a dog on a leash, just to name a few. The kids loved her. Holding this altogether was the DJ blasting out the great hits of the 50's, 60's, and 70's... of beach music, Tina Turner, and the ever popular "YMCA"... well, kids of all ages still love that one. I certainly enjoyed today's music to whatI heard yesterday... but I have to remember that yesterday was for the 5th graders and what they liked. It was their dance, not mine!

I carried in my pocket a twenty dollar bill, thinking I would need it to buy tickets to play the games. I found out that there were no tickets. The games were free... even the air bouncer was free. The only place accepting donations was inside the fellowship hall where the barbecue meal was being served. I found a jar to drop the twenty in, knowing the money would go to worthy cause.

The beneficiary of today's successful money raiser? the Armenian Orphanage. I could write a lengthy description of what has taken place in that area of the world, and how the United Methodist Church, in addition to providing necessary funds and materials to reconstruct and refurbish old orphanages, is helping families gain control of their lives, and helping them to keep their children in their homes rather than sending them off to the orphanage. I could, but you would gain more insight if you read about it yourself.

Click here to learn how UMCOR is helping the Armenian people.

Fundraisers like this help raise awareness of the needs of people far from the comfort of our own homes and the safety of our own communities. Our church is always involved in helping local charitable organizations (Just tonight, for example, the Spring Fling organizer told me that all the leftover barbecue chicken and sides was delivered to Caring Kitchens in Burlington. She delivered it herself.) and local families in need. But we must be ever mindful of those in other parts of the world who are hungry, lost, in pain, and suffering like we cannot even imagine.

Jesus would want us to do that.

Yes, I would say it was successful. Dot thanked me profusely for painting the fishing booth. She said it was exactly what she had in mind... she had hoped I would paint a pond scene, though we had not even talked about it prior to my decision to paint it.

Many people helped out with this event, but I want to thank Dot for all her enthusiastic work in this event. Mostly I want to thank her for her deep dedication to being an active part of the Body of Christ. Truly, Dot's hands are the hands of God!!