Lee Ann Jackson summed up the 2022 auction perfectly over the weekend when commenting on the Shenandoah District Church of the Brethren Disaster Ministries Auction page on Facebook, "It was a great day." It certainly was.
One of the best outcomes from the 2022 auction was the involvement of youth. They took part in the event's setup, helped during the livestock auction and stepped in with food preparation. Gary Shipe noted a few young men came to assist with the physical labor of setting up and young backs were welcomed. The fast-food booth was primarily operated by young people, as was the donut-making project on Saturday. In addition, children who were too young to serve had the opportunity to spend some time on Saturday at the Children's Activities tent, where they blew bubbles and engaged in games with volunteers from the Children's Disaster Ministry.
On the other side of the age range, several older donors are still living and still giving. Quilter Flora Coffman is 105 years old and is still producing items for the auction. Ned Conklin is 78 and still carving beautiful birds. This year, he provided three birds for the sale. Retired Pastor Gene Knicely travels in a motorized wheelchair and is still crafting items such as the marble tower donated this year. Most volunteers who set up and serve the meals, sell baked goods, staff the sales and information tables and conduct the quilt wrapping station are older. Yet, these faithful servants return year after year to do what they can to continue the ministry for those experiencing a disaster.
Although the turnout was a little lighter than expected, the exhilaration of gathering in the exhibit hall and livestock barn was contagious. For the first time since 2019, the auction was nearly back to normal. One exception was the Friday Ham and Oyster dinner, which was not served due to the generous spacing of tables in hopes of helping reduce the potential for the spread of COVID-19. Typically, 1,100 people are served on Friday nights at the annual auction, and this year just under 300 diners enjoyed the fried pork tenderloin dinner.
There were 83 quilts and wall hangings auctioned, along with wooden furniture, artwork and carvings, and miscellaneous donations, including a Smart Car and a horse-drawn buggy. The sale of bunnies at the livestock auction brought enthusiastic bids and joyful laughter, too.
Retired Pastor Wayne Pence opened the livestock auction on Friday evening with a call to focus on service, such as Brethren Disaster Ministries, to foster unity. He cited the story of how Mountain View Fellowship McGaheysville was served by a Baptist ministry called Carpenters for Christ in the building of their church and how good it was to work alongside the 80 volunteers who came to assist.
New to the event was a special auction for coins staged at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday. It ran concurrently with the main auction in the adjacent room. The event organizers were pleased with the donated coins and the growing interest in this niche market.
Another new booth this year featured fresh-squeezed lemonade by the cup. The lemonade was refreshing and delicious, and buyers kept coming back for more.
A few auction favorites returned over the weekend as Montezuma's youth, leaders and friends gathered at 4:30 a.m. to make hot, fresh donuts. On Saturday, other volunteers from Montezuma barbequed chicken halves and Gary Cline from Mill Creek prepared the pork sandwiches. These choices formed the popular box lunch served by volunteers from the Dayton and White Hill congregations. Half chickens were also available for purchase. Pastors scooped up Smiley's ice cream by the gallons and reported the most popular choices were black cherry chocolate chunk and raspberry.
The Brethren at Mountain Grove and other volunteers served Friday's pork tenderloin dinner, and the Melrose congregation made strawberry pies. Mathias and Crab Run cooks donated the chocolate-covered peanut butter balls, known as buckeyes. Countless other congregations and individuals also donated baked goods for the sale.
Theme baskets were back in full force, and the creativity did not miss a beat. Seventy-three baskets with themes from DeWalt tools to teatime, a beach wagon to a fire pit, these beautiful and unique offerings piqued bidders' interest.
The plant sale pavilion was well-stocked, and buyers found various items to choose from, including new types of tomato plants to try. In addition, volunteers filled one-of-a-kind planters with succulents and other potted plants to create fascinating works of living art.
The Sow-and-Grow project had takers for all the envelopes this year. It appears there will be dozens of entrepreneurs growing their ten-dollar investment into a larger donation for the 2023 auction. Corn for Coins also had a good run, bringing in a two-day total of $5,045 in loose change. The coin drive total will increase with the checks sent in from churches that collected coins earlier.
The auction's financial books will remain open through August 31 to account for all the costs incurred and give individuals and churches time to send donation checks in from their congregation's giving and fundraising efforts. An official total will be announced in the Shenandoah Update after Labor Day.
The best part of the two-day event was the people. Marsha Heisey, who is part of the auction at the Lebanon Fairgrounds in Pennsylvania, wrapped it up perfectly. "We had such a great time and the good food and seeing friends that we got to know on trips … It [has] been so neat to see things come up to our auction and things come down to your auction. Then to [going] out on trips makes these auctions even more meaningful." Indeed.
When all the great food is digested, the quilts are snuggled under, and the sawdust settles in the barn, the sole purpose of all this effort is to be able to humbly walk alongside those who are devastated and hurting after experiencing a disaster.
