Mennonite Relief Sale set for 59th year

Mennonite Relief Sale
The sale begins Friday at 4:30 p.m. (WJBC file photo)

By Adam Studzinski

BLOOMINGTON – The 59th annual Mennonite Relief Sale is this weekend at the Interstate Center in Bloomington.

The sale kicks off Friday at 4:30 p.m., with a catfish filet and barbecued chicken dinner. Friday’s grand auction begins at 6:30 p.m.

Saturday will bring an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m., with the day’s auction starting at 8:30 a.m.

Eighty percent of the proceeds from the weekend’s sale will go to the Mennonite Central Committee. The other twenty percent will go to local charities, including the Salvation Army of Peoria, Bloomington and Pekin, Bloomington’s Home Sweet Home Ministries and the Midwest Food Bank of Bloomington.

Admission and parking for the event are free.

Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…