Friends and Relief Sale Family,
Thanksgiving is past and Christmas is just around the corner. In a little more than 4 months we will be set up in Hutchinson for the 2023 version of the Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale. Please mark your calendar and prepare for our annual event, April 14 and 15 of 2023.
It feels good to be on our regular calendar and we hope that we can take another step closer to the opportunities presented in the pre-pandemic sales. Things have changed and some of our booths will have different leadership. We also know that at this point there are some difficulties across the state health wise…influenza, RSV, and COVID. We have learned how to deal with these diseases and we hope to continue to plan with confidence for our 2023 sale so that we will be able to raise funds to help Mennonite Central Committee.
The needs around the world are many and we continue to be concerned over what is happening in the Ukraine. But there are needs for water development programs, health clinics, food resources, relief kits, and opportunities to help people achieve some hope. As long as there are people hurting in the world there will be a need for the Mennonite Central Committee.
Planning has begun for the sale. In many ways the planning and tasks associated with the Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale never totally stop. We keep looking for ways to make life easier for the thousands of volunteers that help us put on the sale. As we get closer to the sale dates we will be asking you to sign up to help with the making of verenike, the making and selling of New Year’s Cookies, preparing the sausage for baking…and to help with many tasks.
The sale will follow the format of the last couple of years. The FTM location will continue to be in Cottonwood Court and preliminary planning tells us we will be serving a “meal” in a clamshell, but there will also be the possibility to order what you would like, ad eat from a plate in Cottonwood Court.
We will open for business, the business of serving God, at 4 PM on Friday the 14th and again at 8 AM on Saturday. There will be the regular auctions, opportunities to eat a variety of food, purchase baked goods, sample some ethnic food and buy things from Kansas Crafts, Plants and Things, and t-shirts.
Please start to consider how you may become involved in the sale. One of the things we ask you to do is to pray for the sale, the leadership of the sale, MCC workers around the world, and for the generosity of so many in our community of service. Another thing we ask you to do is to volunteer for the big tasks that lay before us…hopefully you will feel the call to help to make the sale work. Help us by contributing, y0ur money, your time, your enthusiasm and your good will.
But most of all we need your faith and your ability to act out your faith by helping us this year. The main thing that comes from the KMRS is the enthusiasm and cooperation needed to bring hope to people that benefit from our “village at the state fairgrounds”. It is our opportunity to heed God’s call and to serve, “in the name of Christ” that makes the weekend successful.
Keep us in your prayers and keep working to complete the quilts, the projects, and the planning. We have another lofty goal…$500,000 and more. We need you all to help bring hope and benefit to people in forty countries around the world. Best wishes and God’s Blessings….
Jim Robb, Chairman, KMRS Board