Aside from our Sunday services and our mid-week evening ministries, our church building is often booked for various rentals - including a few fundraisers. Whether it’s a yoga class raising money to support pregnant moms or a non-profit musical group, we’re glad to host those that have a mission to help others. One of the longest running events is a scrapbooking fundraiser organized by Krista, a member at Hope
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Initially, this event, which provides up to 12 hours of uninterrupted crafting time for scrapbooking and card making, was used to support medical mission trips to Central America. To align with her business’ corporate fundraiser, Krista switched the cause supported by these ‘crops’ in 2015 to Operation Smile, an organization already familiar to many of her customers. This non-profit funds free surgeries for children and young adults born with a cleft lip or cleft palate and works in 60 countries around the world. Each surgery, which bring dignity and a smile for children often teased or even abandoned, costs about $240, which makes it easy to tell how many lives will be changed from each crop.
Since 2015, this event has funded over 45 surgeries - that’s just shy of $11,000 - through 8 events in 2 years and if you happened to have stopped by yesterday, you would have seen the atrium again transformed into a sea of colourful tables. Aside from providing a get-away from day-to-day distractions and time to connect with like-minded crafters, one of the secrets to the success of this event, now hosted by Krista and a friend, is the welcoming atmosphere, natural light and high ceilings of our main atrium. While this space was designed to be a place to catch up with fellow believers over coffee on a Sunday, few could have dreamed that it would be packed with tables, buzzing with creative energy and used to Bless so many around the world.
- Chris
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Initially, this event, which provides up to 12 hours of uninterrupted crafting time for scrapbooking and card making, was used to support medical mission trips to Central America. To align with her business’ corporate fundraiser, Krista switched the cause supported by these ‘crops’ in 2015 to Operation Smile, an organization already familiar to many of her customers. This non-profit funds free surgeries for children and young adults born with a cleft lip or cleft palate and works in 60 countries around the world. Each surgery, which bring dignity and a smile for children often teased or even abandoned, costs about $240, which makes it easy to tell how many lives will be changed from each crop.
Since 2015, this event has funded over 45 surgeries - that’s just shy of $11,000 - through 8 events in 2 years and if you happened to have stopped by yesterday, you would have seen the atrium again transformed into a sea of colourful tables. Aside from providing a get-away from day-to-day distractions and time to connect with like-minded crafters, one of the secrets to the success of this event, now hosted by Krista and a friend, is the welcoming atmosphere, natural light and high ceilings of our main atrium. While this space was designed to be a place to catch up with fellow believers over coffee on a Sunday, few could have dreamed that it would be packed with tables, buzzing with creative energy and used to Bless so many around the world.
- Chris
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