Some Reflections After the 2023 VA Relief Sale

Inside joke at a recent SOS committee
meeting: "We'll know God's kingdom has
come when the lines at the MCC giving table
are as long as those lined up for donuts."

1. We're truly grateful for the "Sharing Our Surplus" (SOS) monetary contributions made at the Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale giving table this year. The total raised there was $36,492.86, a slight increase over 2022, when we had our first $10,000 donor. This year we had another (different) couple who gave the same amount. 

2. Yet we haven't been able to substantially increase the percentage of sale attendees who donate (around 1.5% of the estimated 4000 present this year). Fortunately, the 59 individuals who did made SOS designated gifts were very generous, as follows: 

Number of donors and donor amounts
1- $10,000
2- $2500
2- $2000
3- $1000
1- $600
5- $500
1- $400
1- $300
1- $250
4- $200
12- $100-150
26- $1-75

Others who made smaller contributions all helped add to the total, SOS giving amounting to around 10% of what the Relief Sale will send to MCC this year, all without any overhead costs.

An additional $400 of SOS giving was on the Relief Sale website, plus over $2000 was received in direct deposits through the Park View Federal Credit Union.

3.The donor who blessed us most this year was Wakuru, who looked to be around a second grader of likely middle eastern origin (and maybe once a refugee himself?) who came to the Everence sponsored gift table with a big smile and a crumpled $1 bill. We see him as one of our greatest givers!

4. The quart size giving jars we had at various business and other locations in the weeks prior to the sale raised only around $140, well below last year's numbers, and these same jars placed at different venues at the sale itself brought in just under $15, so we will need to evaluate whether to continue using those.

5. Some fear that the sale itself, for most people, becomes more a matter of getting than actually giving, whether attendees are gaining an excess of good food or gaining more additional possessions like quilts, crafts, furniture, etc. Having said that, most attendees willingly give significantly more for these items than they could purchase them otherwise, so that extra can certainly be counted as a generous gift to help people in need. But the people who create and donate these items are the major givers, as are those who donate untold amounts of time in making this celebratory event possible.

6. I did have one friend on Facebook comment on one of my posts promoting the relief sale, "Perhaps MCC could organize a day of fasting following the relief sale. The 'pig out for world hunger' message always sits strangely with me... people could fast and donate the day after the sale in a way that benefits their bodies and souls." My response was that I would love for that to happen! Perhaps we could encourage all of the members of our supporting churches to at least skip breakfast that Sunday morning and then have a rice and beans noon meal together at the church and take up a huge collection to add to the money sent to MCC. 

What do you think?