After half a century, the New Hamburg Relief Sale has become a staple, and much anticipated part of the Mennonite Central Committee’s fundraising efforts for its international work.
On May 26 and 27, the New Hamburg Fairgrounds will be teeming with volunteers and buyers looking for their next tasty treat, quilt or piece of furniture, and the money is all going to a good cause.
Rick Cober Bauman, executive director of MCC Ontario, says this year’s focus is on the famine that has been officially declared in South Sudan and Nigeria. It isn’t just about giving those suffering a box of food, however. MCC is also focusing on the systemic issues that may have caused the famines.
“We are hoping that the message around all of our work, including the relief sale, could be that we are active in responding to the famine in Nigeria and South Sudan and interestingly enough, it is partly an emergency food response, but it is also a peace building response,” he said. “A lot of the time it isn’t because of insufficient rain, or because of growing techniques, it is really because violence makes communities so unstable that people can’t or don’t plant crops because they may not be there to harvest them, or they believe that crops will get damaged or destroyed. All of those things hugely contribute to food insecurity and eventually famine.”
The sale will have plenty of vendors and auctions – something for everyone, says Cober Bauman.
“The quilt auction is always close to the centre of the sale, but we want to remind people that there is a lot going on, on Friday night. Most of the food vendors are open, there is an auction starting on Friday evening, and then throughout the day on Saturday, there are the fresh-baked pies – strawberry pie often becomes a favourite because it is the first of the season for many people – plants and perennials for the gardening community in the tents where they can get their supplies and plants for their gardens, and of course, a personal favourite of mine, the yeast donuts,” he said. “I would invite everyone to stop by for a dozen of those. You have got to eat them fresh. Don’t plan to keep them around. They are at their very best on the day you buy them.”
There will also be foods from different cultures sold as well, including papusas from Latin America and spring rolls from southeast Asia.
“It is a fun day. A great day to be exposed to your broader community with a huge range of people from the Mennonite community, those who are selling papusas and spring rolls and there is a real range of food that people don’t always associate with the classic Mennonite offerings,” said Cober Bauman. “This is a festival-like day, but you can be sure that it has been run very leanly so that proceeds are all channeled to our relief, peace building and resource development work, with a specific focus on responding to hunger issues.”
The sale starts off on May 26 at 5 p.m. with quilt auction seat sales and at 5:30 p.m., the quilt preview opens, with the plant and flower tent, the food vendors and the craft tent open as well. At 6 p.m., there is a barbecue dinner and at 7 p.m., the indoor auction and silent auction begin.
On May 27, the events start up at 6:45 a.m. with registration for the Run 4 Relief. At 7 a.m. the pancake breakfast will be served, and the tents will be open. The quilt auction opens at 8:30 a.m. and at 10 a.m., the outdoor auction starts, with patio furniture, sporting goods, hardware and more for sale. At 11 a.m. the children’s auction begins.
For a full schedule, visit www.nhmrs.com.
