Faith United Methodist Church, fundraising with many options

Faith United Methodist Church of Waseca held its Fall Bazaar and luncheon Saturday, Nov. 1. The soup of the day was chicken and wild rice, with fresh baked bread and assorted pies to choose from for dessert. When the total was tallied, there were 180 diners and 30 people just there for thrift and baked goods.

 

Alongside the thrift items, cookies and baked goods, Kelly Boeddiker was selling homemade items like baskets and soaps; there was also a pan flute. Said Boeddiker, “I work for Caregiver Services and I’m a member of the church here, just helping to raise funds when I can.”

 

Up at the serving table, armed with plastic gloves and bowls, Lori Pommerenke and Linda Griffin were ready, willing and able to feed. Said Pommerenke about the day’s attendance, “By noon we’ve filled up to 97 soup bowls through our line, that’s not counting the 25 or so to-go’s that have gone out the door.” The thrift and bake sales were ongoing on the other side of the room. The two servers looked in that direction and Griffin added, “That’s not counting the people who are here just for the sales, some of them aren’t eating at all.” Both ladies said they helped to prepare the soup, but another woman walked up, and they wanted her to have all the credit, said Pommerenke, “Lela Jones is the one who made the soup, I just brought the celery and the carrots.”

 

For the cookie sale, there were ginger snaps, sugar, oatmeal, chocolate stars, snickerdoodle, sugar cookies with cream cheese and of course chocolate chip. Vada Dahnert, who was staffing the cookie counter said, “We all made 10 dozen for the day, I would bet I’ve sold at least 300 cookies by now and it’s only noon.” For the bake sale, which was separate from the cookies, there were pork and bean bars, cinnamon streusel cupcakes, Aronia berry, jelly, berry jam, strawberry rhubarb jam, mixed berry and Special K bars.

 

For the thrift sale, Roberta Walker was keeping an eye on things; as she looked around, a woman came up behind her and whispered, “You just got a huge compliment on your bread.” Ever humble, Walker apologized and said, “I am sorry, we’ve been so busy today we hardly have anything left, we’ve had to spread things out, so it looks like more.” She was asked what she thought of the soup, and she replied, “You know, I haven’t had a moment to go get any yet.” She assured, “All of the funds raised today go toward missions in Waseca and the surrounding area.”