Rare
fund-raiser well done
Every
Thursday from May 5 until Oct. 20 of 2005, four faithful women from St.
James Church in Moncton hustled their buns outside City Hall at lunch
time.
Susan
Goguen, Charlene Routledge, Natalie Saulnier and
Betty Hunter are determined to raise enough
money to build a new parking lot at their church, so rain or shine
during the barbecue season, they set up outside City Hall and add to
the fund one hot dog at a time –– if all goes well. If someone is
hungry, asks for food and cannot pay, well, the fundraising goes on the
back burner.
“We never
turn anyone away that doesn't have the means to purchase our food,”
says Susan. “We believe if that person asked the Lord for food, He
would feed them. Since we are to be Christlike, our motto is: ‘If they
ask, they receive.’”
Net
proceeds from the barbecue fundraiser in 2005 totalled just over
$5,000, so obviously most people can afford to pay. A lot of it came
from their regular weekly customers, but some of it came from special
barbecues they put on at a couple of festivals and other events, at the
request of Downtown Moncton.
The
estimated cost of the new parking lot is about $35,000. Donations and
barbecue proceeds so far amount to nearly $19,000, so it’s going to
take a few more seasons and a lot more rods / burgers / whatever to
reach the goal.
“We have land at the back of St. James for a
parking lot,” says Susan. “In 2004 we had preliminary plans drawn by a
firm in Moncton called Acadia Consultants & Inspectors Limited. The
cost was about $3,500 and that’s all been paid from our fund. We are
not able to go any further at this time because once you submit the
plans to City Hall for the permit the work must be finished with in a
year. We have to have enough money to finish the job before we start
it.”
Vestry member Reg Godsoe came up with the barbecue fundraising idea in
support of the parking lot in 2003. With the approval of the
corporation, he contacted City Hall and got permission to set up in
that space as a non-profit, charitable organization.
“We
started with about 30 volunteers and barbecued once or twice a month,”
says Susan. “We also barbecued at Sobeys and Canadian Tire when we were
permitted, but City Hall was the place where we met people who wanted
our services. The first couple of years at City Hall we were like a
very large family. We had regular customers and got to know what they
liked. We even made friends. It was a wonderful experience.”
In 2004
some of the volunteers, Susan among them, took a food-handling course
and became certified to serve in public places for city functions other
than at City Hall.
By the end of the 2004 season, however, many of the volunteers had run
out of propane and resigned.
“In April
of 2005 I wrote a letter to vestry to say Charlene and I were willing
to continue the barbecues in front of City Hall,” says Susan. “We were
granted permission. I asked Natalie and Betty to help and they were
both willing. I asked Natalie’s husband Vic to help us transport and
set up our equipment each Thursday and that’s what he does. He comes
back four hours later and takes it all down again. I asked my husband
Norman to let us use his trailer, and now he helps us if Vic is not
available. Everyone is making sacrifices to make this project
successful.”
Clearly
Susan is determined the parking lot will be built. She is a determined
woman. She is also a member of the Mothers’ Union Canadian Council.
When she took her place on this national board in early 2005 she
learned that group intended to upgrade its newsletter, but some
wrangling over a new dues structure to fund it had left the project
short.
Susan was
determined the MU newsletter would be the best it could be and set out
to supplement its budget. She taught her barbecue team to make fudge,
which they sold right along with their barbecue fare on Thursdays, and
donated the proceeds to the MU Canadian Council.
Diocesan
Communications
24
January 2006
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