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December 2005/January 2006
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Give a Heifer cow for Christmas. |
Many churches throughout the Conference will be holding Holiday fairs this season, but Hancock United Church of Christ in Lexington takes a different approach to the usual White Elephant and baked goods tables. According to Hancock’s deacon Carol Bukys, the Hancock Church hosts an alternative Christmas Fair every year.
The Church invites charities or church members raising money for local, national and international charities to sell items and handcrafts or to give out gift cards in return for a donation. For example, if fair-goers donate to Habitat for Humanity, they will receive a card saying they bought a gross of nails, or a hammer, or some plywood; for the Heifer project, they will receive a card saying they purchased a chicken, pig, or cow. The Youth Group is the only Hancock ministry that raises money at the event; and the funds are used to pay for mission trips to rural Kentucky where they help build houses.
“Last year we raised over $16,000 for outside charities,” says Bukys, “and we would love to see other churches in the area take this idea and make it their own.”