First Annual South Texas Relief Sale a success

Mennonite Central Committee
Tuesday, 13 February 2001

AKRON, Pa. -- Traditionally Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Relief Sale auctions open with auction goers bidding on a homemade loaf of bread.

The first annual South Texas Relief Sale, held Feb. 10, started their own tradition by offering a dozen homemade flour tortillas.

The flour tortillas sold for $50 and set the mark for a successful auction and relief sale, which raised over $20,000 for MCC.

"The Lord brought many people from all over that day to work together in Christ's name, and we praise the God for that," Ruth Salinas, secretary for the Relief Sale Committee, reported after the sale.

The first of its kind in South Texas, the relief sale offered an array of ethnic foods, activities for children, information booths and of course, an auction. It was held in San Juan at the Iglesia Menonita Buenas Nuevas (the Good News Mennonite Church). More than 700 people attended the sale.

Several local Mennonite and Mennonite Brethren congregations came together and sold different kinds of traditional Mexican foods from "menudo, tamales to fajita tacos," Salinas said. The big hit, however, was a specialty "Mexican Plate," that included carne guisada, beans and rice.

"We also had several homemade goodies, ranging from grapefruit, strawberry, pecan and shoofly pies to cookies, cupcakes, candied apples and homemade candy," she said. "And to add to the traditional American side of things, we included the famous hot dog which turned out to be it's regular success."

The auction featured 250 different items including quilts, artwork, pieces of crystal, wooden toys and crafted furniture to old German records. The Brownsville Rivera High School Mariachi band provided music for the event.

Inside the Buenas Nuevas church a 32-foot rock-climbing wall was constructed as an attraction for youth and children.

The awareness raising information included MCC's Loas bombie removal project and the work of Projecto Liberta de Harlingen, Texas, which featured a banner of all the immigrants who have died along the Texas border.

"We are extremely grateful for all the help, advice, time and effort that we received from several Winter Texans, who migrate to south Texas for the winter, and to the Houston relief sale organizers who made a special trip to sit side by side with us and walk us through our first sale," Salinas said.

"In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing," Salinas said, quoting Ephesians 2:10.

For more information, or to contact Mennonite Central Committee, see their website at: www.mcc.org