Welcome to another week!
Two weeks ago I promised to give a full report on Fallowfield United Methodist Church’s annual fair project. Drum roll please: We made 1,902 pies. We made between 71 and 180 pies per shift at the church. Our highest grossing days were senior citizen days -- Monday and Tuesday. Elderberry, rhubarb, and raisin sold well those days. We sold our last slice of pie, raisin, just before fireworks began Saturday, August 29. Then we closed our doors.
We had lots of helpers this year, which is a gift from God. Last year we had far too few people at bakes and at the fair booth. This year we had ample help. People who left our church twenty or thirty years ago still come to help us at fair time. It’s wonderful to see them and catch up.
Friends of friends of Fallowfield members came out to make Dutch apple pie filling and wash dishes. Grandchildren of members who’ve gone to be with the Lord dotted pies with butter and fluted crusts. Grandchildren of members who live hundreds of miles away visited so they could serve at the pie booth.
Everyone who volunteers contributes in some way to this massive project. Families in our church have donated ingredients for thirty years or more. Some people make sloppy joes. Others cook fries or grill cheeseburgers at the fair. Some people run ovens at the church or donate elderberries and rhubarb.
All totaled, it took around 130 hours to bake 1,859 pies and about 80 hours to sell them at the fair. This excludes all pre-fair pie making, committee planning, sloppy joe cooking, supply ordering, and dozens of other tasks the fair requires.
This was our 59th year at the fair. God has been faithful to provide helpers to pull off this project for all these years. Some people who worked at the fair and baked pies in 1956 helped this year, too.
We have loyal customers who patronize us year after year. I remember a lady who always wore purple and ordered rhubarb pie. Another sweet lady always wanted runny raisin pie.
Last year we sent money from food sales at the fair to 75 missionaries and charities. We gave to CASA, Fallowfield Fire & Rescue, His Work His Way, Hospice, Life Building Ministries in Cochranton, Pregnancy Center of Meadville, Salvation Armies in Crawford and Mercer Counties, Samaritans of Conneaut Lake, the Jimmy Moore fund, Stone United Methodist Church’s soup kitchen, Wesley Woods United Methodist camp, and to missionaries in Brazil, China, Philippines, Haiti, and Congo, among others.
See how mixing a bowl of elderberry pie filling or selling a cheeseburger makes a difference? Sometimes I think there’s nothing I can do to change the world. Pessimism seems realistic. Fear motivates me to withdraw and feel helpless.
But God isn’t helpless. He isn’t bound by circumstances. God can turn a piece of elderberry pie into a message of hope. Hope for today and in the promise of heaven. Hope for recovery from addictions and financial problems. Hope to people who live in impoverished, spiritually dark places.
If you helped in any way with the fair project, thank you. God will bless you. If you bought food from Fallowfield’s booth, thank you. God will bless you, too.
Have a wonderful week. Blessings!