Posted: Saturday, October 11, 2008 12:00 am
Money donated will help build homes in Bangladesh
By AnneMarie Knepper
albany Democrat-Herald
Handmade quilts, furniture and pies, the items that make a house a home, lined the tables at the 25th Oregon Mennonite Festival for World Relief Saturday at the Linn County Fair & Expo Center.
The theme of "home" extended this year into the show presentation, where a small group had assembled a wood and corrugated steel home like the ones the Mennonite Central Committee hopes to build more of in cyclone-stricken Bangladesh.
"The thing that amazes some people is that $320 can buy a house," said Jerry Linscheid, a coordinator for West Coast MCC.
He said materials for the simple, 9-foot-by-15-foot shelters are largely bought on-site in Bangladesh, both to avoid shipping costs and to help the local economy.
Linscheid has attended the festival for the last 10 years and said erecting an actual house instead of an information booth has brought much more interest to the project than in previous years.
Children stopped by the house to get information for a festival-wide scavenger hunt.
Like the adults, the kids enjoyed their own auction, where their bids garnered a doll quilt (winning bid $7), a Playmobil toy car ($12) and a book of 777 "great clean jokes" ($6), among other donated items.
A taco and baked potato bar was added to the food choices this year, much to the delight of festival-goers, who had a hard time finding a seat in the packed food court.
Volunteer Brandon Chupp, 12, of Canby accepted donations at the popular book tables. He said folks generally gave $1 an item.
Brandon said a surprising amount of tapes and records were also being picked up.
In 24 years, the festival - with its auctions, raffles, sales of food and other items - has brought in more than $1.5 million to aid people around the world.