Only three weeks til ShareFest 2011. The ShareFest Committee has been meeting for several months. Our anticipation is building! It's so much fun to see new churches get involved and to see our plans expanded upon and shaping up to be bigger and better than ever. There are lots of ways for you to get involved. Here’s a behind the scenes look at ShareFest.
June 5, 12, and 19th (Sundays) Capable men and women, driving pickups will drive through member church parking areas during each service, picking up donated items for the Free Sale from behind cars at 13 different area churches. Those same days pickups will be made at some people's homes by prior appointment. Everything collected - furniture, appliances, clothing, toys and books - – will be stored in donated semi-trailers located on the ShareFest Village site at Mulberry Elementary School.
Prior to Wed. June 22, groceries will be purchased to feed over 400 volunteers and 500 expected ShareFest Village guests. Some of the food will be purchased using gift cards donated from local business and some food has been donated. Beginning Wed. night through Saturday morning June 22-25, Food Service volunteers will prepare lunches for all of the project volunteers. Peanut butter and jelly, bologna or ham, chips, cookies, water, juice boxes and napkins will be carefully planned for each project team according to projected numbers of volunteers, then packed into borrowed coolers that are labeled for the project by number so that leaders can grab the correct coolers and know with confidence they will have plenty for everyone to eat. All food prep takes place in Faith Church's kitchen to be distributed to Thursday/Friday teams from there and transported to the Village site on Saturday for Saturday teams.
Thursday and Friday mornings (June 23-24) at 8:15, there are sleepy teens and energized adults arriving at Faith Church to find out what projects have been designated for them. Project leaders may know their project ahead of time, but everything is subject to change depending on weather and last minute projects. The Th-Fri group is special because they are the first wave of ShareFest volunteers to go out into the community to make a real difference in the name of Christ. Leaders, drivers and lots of intergenerational volunteers meet in the MultiPurpose Room for a devotional send off, some introductions and prayer and last minute project assignments. Note: minors need permission forms signed by parent or guardian.
On Saturday, June 25 at Mulberry Elementary School at 5950 Buckwheat Drive the excitement begins to peak at 7:30 to 8:00 am as project teams are put to work as soon as they arrive to help set up the many tents and canopies needed for The Village. As new volunteers arrive they are assigned a project, they purchase tshirts if needed, and then are put to work with the others to set up the village. All hands are on deck as all of the presorted Free Sale items need to be moved to the outside area in preparation for the Sale which begins later in the morning. Men in trucks canvass area church buildings to borrow tables and chairs for the Village booths and hospitality area.
The Village really begins to bustle as Hoxworth personnel arrive – excited about the goal of 70 pints donated through this year’s blood drive. New this year will be the Health Fair area, where skilled people will take blood pressures and offer other medical services. Hair dressers will donate their services with free haircuts. Representatives from local charities will set up information at their booths and the Prayer Tent will get ready to offer spiritual resources to those in need. Truckloads of coolers with project lunches inside will begin arriving – ready to go with teams to the project sites – all over the Milford-Miami Township area. Finally as excitement builds, parking attendants will welcome guests and direct cars to area parking.
At 10 am, the Village technically begins. Someone dedicates the entire day’s events to the Lord, then local pastors pray with project teams as they gather in groups. From 10 until 4 – while projects are being completed off site, many residents are exploring all that ShareFest Village has to offer. Worship bands will be playing on the main stage. Haircuts, prayer times, the health fair, the car wash, Kids Zone, Hospitality Tent and the blood drive will all be in full swing. In the meantime, more crowds will be gathering as they await the signal that the Free Yard Sale will begin. The yard sale is from 11-2, everything is free, there is help to carry “purchases” to vehicles. The aroma of hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill is wafting through the crowd, whetting everyone’s appetite for the free lunch provided by gracious donations from our sponsors.
By 2:30 as the free sale ends, there are always some items left from the sale that need to be packed up to be donated to a local agency. Project teams begin to report back in on all that they accomplished. The Village officially closes at 4, but the Hoxworth nurses will stay until every blood donor has been accommodated. All the booths, tents, canopies will be disassembled, tables and chairs returned to area churches and the whole area policed so that we leave it better than we found it. There is always a hodgepodge of remainders – who will store the signs for next year? Can you return these coolers to the proper owners? Boy, I’m Beat! Then everyone goes home to a well-deserved rest.
Sunday, June 26 Everyone is invited to gather to celebrate what God has done again this year! For information on how you can get involved visit www.milfordsharefest.org , or comment on this blog. 13 Milford area churches + a great big God = Something Amazing! Come and see for yourself!
