At our annual East Shore auction we always have one item called the “Fund-A-Need”. For the past few years, this has been to raise funds for various projects around the East Shore campus, but this last year, we raised money for a Covid Food Relief project. We raised over $20,000 for the Fund-A-Need project in the auction, and this money was used to fund food deliveries to Jubilee Reach, donations to Backpack Meals for Kids, and to support the Food Bank Farm in significant ways. A small temporary team was formed to oversee this project, and many members and young people were able to help out.
So the big question is “What should the Auction Fund-A-Need raise money for this year?” and “Should it be for the church, or for a Social Justice cause?”
Here are some ideas, both for Social Justice causes and for church projects, that are floating out there, to get you thinking:
Social Justice options:
- We could establish a regular project to fund important projects in the local community. Like last year, this could benefit local organizations, strengthening relationships with them, and could provide worthwhile volunteer opportunities for members of all ages. A dedicated project team would be needed to oversee this project.
- If we don’t have a dedicated project team, we could decide to give all the money, as a single lump sum, to a particular organization such as Congregations for the Homeless or Sophia Way.
Church options:
- During Covid, East Shore’s old children’s playground was dismantled as it had become unsafe. We urgently need to design and build a new play area, which could potentially be expanded to include a kids p-patch, a seating area for parents or supervisors, and fencing around the area, to prevent young children running off. Having a good quality play area would be helpful not only for our own children but also for the children participating in summer camps (bringing us more rental income) and potentially for the children of the new homes to be built on the Holly House property.
- For East Shore Live and other theatrical events, better lighting is needed in the Sanctuary.
- There is a proposal to make the Education Buildings gender neutral, by removing urinals and installing more stalls in the current men’s bathroom.
If you feel excited about one or more of these projects, and would be willing to help, please let Nicole or myself know as soon as possible. Or perhaps you have other ideas? We need to put the recommended decision to the Board for approval in September. At the Auction Team meeting on August 9th, we will be discussing the options, so we need to know what energy people have to drive these projects forward as soon as possible. Please send me your thoughts and ideas on this!
Amanda Strombom, Auction Chair