Stewardship Tip May 2007

Be a Fair Steward

Fiesta?  Parish festival?  Oktoberfest?  Whatever your parish calls it, chances are this major parish fund-raiser is scheduled for sometime this summer or early fall.  And whatever you call it, there are many ways to support your parish fair with generous portions of your time, talent and treasure.

Before it all begins, many hands will be needed to stuff and mail raffle tickets, to encourage sponsorships and post publicity, to clean up the site before the rides and booth materials arrive, to decorate the food and game booths, and to organize the prize room, the “in kind” donations, and the items donated for the auction or the rummage sale.

Good stewards can also bring baked goods for the “Sweet Shoppe” or the cake walk, volunteer to be greeters at the gate or ticket takers, or spend a few hours selling hot dogs or making burritos.  Perhaps you have the talents to paint children’s faces or twirl cotton candy onto paper cones or sell bingo cards.  Maybe you’ll choose to sign up to walk the neighborhood and pick up any litter discarded as people leave the site, or ask your event chairs where extra help is needed most and watch them smile!

Plan to be a fair-goer yourself and invite others to join the fun – out-of-town friends and relatives, prospective parishioners, former parishioners, or anyone who enjoys good junk food and a festive atmosphere.  Encourage your neighbors to come along – or take their children with yours to the fair and give them the afternoon off!

And if parish festivals are just not your cup of tea, consider offering to help in your particular liturgical ministry on fiesta weekend – maybe even for a couple of Masses – to “free up” a fellow parishioner to work at the fair.  Perhaps you could even put an extra few dollars into the collection, too – the price of lunch at the fair, if you liked that sort of thing!

After the party’s over, more willing volunteers will be needed to clean up the grounds, cart away the trash, police the surrounding neighborhood one last time, and pack up and store the equipment until next year.  Oh, and don’t forget to check out and support the festivals of neighboring parishes between now and your next one if you can.  Fair stewards are good stewards.  Be one this summer!