NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Jim Robb with the Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale notes that for people who have been praying for Ukraine, coming to the sale is a way you can help.
"When you start thinking in terms of where a lot of the Mennonites, their background, is from, they came to the United States from the Ukraine," Robb said. "German and Swiss background, but they ended up in Russia and in the Ukraine area and they came here and they brought with them those ethnic foods. Verenike, somebody told me it was actually the national dish of the Ukraine."
There will also be an artisan raising money for the Ukraine specifically.
"She's an artist and does Ukranian eggs, the Easter egg kind of things," Robb said. "She's been doing that for a long time. It's a good part of our history, part of the Mennonite history. This year, she asked if it would be possible to have a place set up where she could say, these donations definitely go to the Ukraine. She'll have that opportunity in the Domestic Arts Building."
The goal of the whole sale is to help the Mennonite Central Committee in their work around the globe.
"People come as families, people come as friends, as congregations, they get together," Robb said. "It's totally for the purpose of supporting this, what was supposed to be a temporary organization a hundred years ago, the Mennonite Central Committee. They do so because they are generous, they do so out of the goodness of their heart. They feel it is one way for them to serve their fellow man and to do God's work."
The Mennonite Central Committee strives to make peace a part of everything they do. The original organization in 1920 was to help Mennonites from what is now Ukraine avoid starvation.
The schedule of events starts with sale booths opening at 4 p.m. Friday, with the feeding of the multitude also starting at that time, and the general auction starting at 6 p.m.
On Saturday, breakfast starts in Cottonwood Court at 7 a.m., with booths open at 8 a.m. The 5K Run for Relief is at 8 a.m., with the quilt and general auctions both starting at 8:45 a.m. and feeding the multitude starting at 10:30 a.m., with the kids auction in the Pride of Kansas building at 10 a.m. Saturday and the memorabilia auction at 11 a.m.