As many of you know, I like to share stories about what happens at each flea market, to remind us all that it’s about a whole lot more than just raising money for the church. Unfortunately, this flea market’s big story didn’t happen the day of the flea market–it came two days before. On Thursday night, my father and I were still working on setup, and my mother had arrived early for Bell Choir practice when we heard what sounded like a large animal running on the roof. We ran outside and saw a young man scaling the wall from the kitchen roof to the higher section above the Friendship Room. As we know, the man jumped off the roof and was critically injured, and it took the police several days to identify him. As heartbreaking as the story is, one of the things that I found most remarkable is that, even though a lot of people wanted to talk about what had happened, I never really heard anyone pass judgement about this man. There was just a lot of concern and compassion for him. It was also pointed out, by the fabulous Josie Sheldon, that the situation with this man showed what an amazing community we are a part of. The fact that the police response was so immediate (they were there before I even got a chance to pull my phone out of my pocket to call), and the ambulance and fire truck weren’t far behind, and this man was taken to a first class hospital for surgery when they didn’t even know his name, is a good reminder of how many good and caring people there are in this world, most notably right here at home. I have heard that there have been many negative comments about this man on social media, but most everything I heard and saw was about compassion for a troubled soul.
Compassion is a word that I would use to describe what our flea market volunteers show while doing all the work involved for the flea market. I see it in the little notes from those who donate items giving us a heads up about the background of an item, or the people who spend several hours unpacking and going the extra mile to not only keep all the kitchen items together, but to also group all the Tupperware together and all the utensils together and make the presentation so beautiful, knowing full well that much of that effort will be “destroyed” in the first hour of the sale. I see compassion from the volunteers who sign up to help in the morning and end up staying all day, and in the youth who help with the snack bar or other rooms or help customers carry their boxes to the car. I often feel like I get a lot of false credit for the success of the flea market, because it is EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU who make it an amazing event each and every time. It would never happen without your donations, your willingness to help price, set up and clean up, bake treats and make soup for the snack bar, and the friendliness and helpfulness that you show to our customers.
Your efforts have once again paid off!! We made about $3,300 just on the sale day alone. With the sales made during setup and cleanup and from selling a bunch of items on Craigslist and eBay, the grand total is over $5,300, which is our best spring flea market to date!!!
Following the April 23 Session meeting, I will have some spending updates to announce in future bulletins and newsletter articles.
Thank you ALL for EVERYTHING you do to contribute to the success of the flea market!!