Sue Sitter/PCT Sister Mary Ruth Huhn, left, stands with CYO members Maddex Kirchofner and Katelyn Duchscher near tables filled with items for sale at their rummage sale held March 5-6 at Little Flower Church.
The Little Flower Parish Catholic Youth Organization held a rummage sale March 5-6 to raise money for their yearly activities and helped another community in the process.
“The purpose of the sale is to raise money for the CYO, but it’s also kind of going back to Lent,” explained Katelyn Duchscher, a CYO member who attends religious education classes at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Balta. “During Lent, we’re supposed to give up things we don’t need and help others. So, this is a good way for people to get rid of the things they don’t need and to help other people get the things they do need.”
Maddex Kirchofner, a middle schooler and CYO member from Rugby, said a variety of items were on sale at the event, donated by members of Little Flower Parish. “There’s jewelry, collectables, household items and office stuff; there are picture frames, lots of clothes, toys and lots of other things.”
“The money goes to the CYO, helping us to do things in the community,” Duchscher noted. Activities for the church group include the Amazing Race, an October event where members race around town collecting items such as food or shoes to donate to charities.
“Pretty much the money we earn here funds the Amazing Race and programs like that,” Duchscher added.
“In the summer, we get to go on a trip. This year, we’re going to Valley Fair. We’re going to work at the homeless shelter and tour either the cathedral or the basilica in the Twin Cities, so then, we’ll have to pay for the bus and the facilities, so we raise the money here,” added Sr. Mary Ruth Huhn, a CYO advisor and teacher’s aide at Little Flower School.
“The nice thing about this is after the sale’s done, the items we don’t sell are going to St. Anne’s in Belcourt. They have a little store that sells things at discounted prices,” Duchscher said.
Catholic missionaries Michaela Nee, Boston, Mass., and Katherine Bernard, Seattle, Wash, collected the roomful of leftover items after the sale.
“I would start off by saying that it was a surprise,” Nee said of the number of items donated to the thrift shop at St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Belcourt.
Nee and Bernard said Sandra Champagne, a longtime St. Anne’s employee, asked them to pick up the items.
“She cooks meals for us and makes sure all the volunteers are fed, the priests are fed. She’s very motherly and takes care of us,” Nee said of Champagne. “She also runs our thrift store.”
“She asks us, ‘Do you ladies have a couple of hours on Saturday night to run and pick up a few donations?’ And I said, ‘No problem. We got you,'” Nees recounted with a laugh. “We go to Rugby and figure we’ll get a couple of bags and head back. We walk in and meet Rebecca and Lisa from the CYO team, and they say, ‘This is all for you guys.’ And it’s a big store of stuff. And we said, ‘Wow, thank you so much!’ It was totally unexpected. We thought it was going to be just a couple of bags of stuff.”
“Clearly, your community pouring your love into your own event, and now, it gets extended back here, pretty much doubled the store we have here. It literally doubled (the inventory),” Nees added.
“It’ll take us a couple of days to get it unpacked and labeled and put out, but it was an outpouring of generosity and love. And the number of people that came out and helped that night at Little Flower was awesome. All of a sudden, there were more volunteers coming to help us pack it away. You guys have such a good team and such a community over there,” Nees said.
Nees volunteers at St. Anne’s School as a first-grade teacher. Bernard works as a volunteer in the church office and helps with fundraising. Both said they also volunteer at the church’s food pantry.
Both volunteers said they also help at the thrift store as needed.
Although the store sells marked-down clothing, housewares and other items, volunteers at the store give to the needy during times of crisis.
“During the winter, people would come just asking for things,” Nees said. “We don’t charge. We just give. Because the goal is to give the community what they’re most in need of, like good winter jackets, hats and gloves, things like that.”
“There’s also home furnishings,” Nees added. “People get settled and on their own feet and want to start forming a nice home for themselves, so this is a good place for them to go to begin that process. Sandra can make anything feel like home.”
Nees noted the thrift store is “open Wednesday nights and the first Saturday of every month. But if people are in need besides that, we can fill that need because it’s right here at the church.”
Nees said more volunteers from NDSU would visit St. Anne’s parish March 12-14 to help with the store’s new inventory.
Bernard added, “Right before I came over here to talk to you, I asked Sandra if there’s anything (the church) wants to tell the paper. She said, ‘Just tell them thank you.’ It takes a lot to keep the inventory up and the store and so this is just another way to have items from another community. It’s nice to have items from outside of our community.”
The Link LonkMarch 13, 2021 at 12:10PM
https://www.thepiercecountytribune.com/news/local-news/2021/03/13/little-flower-cyo-fundraiser-supports-youth-group-and-others/
Little Flower CYO fundraiser supports youth group and others - Pierce County Tribune
https://news.google.com/search?q=Flower&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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