A quilt raffle will both raise funds and honour the heritage of the MCC Thrift Store in Winkler.
As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations this year, a quilt was specially made for the raffle, and organizers suggested it was a fitting way to pay tribute for the occasion.
“Quilting has always been a big part of the history of the MCC thrift stores and MCC, and quilt auctions have taken place for many years,” noted Doreen Warms, chairperson of the 50th anniversary festivities. “Our celebration committee thought it would be a great idea if we could have a quilt to raffle off to get some funds towards our MCC missions.
“We’re hoping to raise some good funds and to honour the quilting heritage part of the MCC. Of course, there are many other things that go on in the MCC organization, but quilting certainly has been a huge part of it,” she added. “We still have ladies coming in to do quilts that get sent to the needy and overseas.”
Working on the quilt became a labour of love for Lydia Zacharias and Katie Friesen. The former cut and pieced together the quilt front, while the latter did the machine work.
“They both donated their time and efforts,” said Warms. “So we’re really excited about this quilt and hope that we have lots of people who are interested in winning the quilt. I know from people who have seen peeks of the quilt they have certainly shown some excitement.”
“A lot of work went into it by Margaret Reimer, who shopped for the fabric,” Zacharias noted. “She went to the U.S. and to Brandon and to Carman and all over.”
She called it a privilege to be involved in this project.
“I found it a real honour to be asked to work on this quilt. I have sewn many quilts for MCC but never one where the pattern of the fabric was chosen specifically. It is a simple design, and the colour choices are pleasing to the eye.”
Organizers are hoping to sell 2,000 tickets, and they see the potential to raise between $6,000 and $10,000, with individual tickets going for $5 each, five for $20, or a book of 15 for $50.
There is a second prize of a barbecue donated by Parkside Home Hardware Building Centre, and organizers are also looking at potentially adding an early bird prize as well.
The draw will be Sept. 27 at 3 p.m. as part of three days of celebration planned for the store.
“We have all kinds of things planned for Sept. 25-27 because Sept. 25 in 1974 was the date that 15 ladies got together for a meeting … that was the inception of this store as a result of that meeting,” noted Reimer. “There will be special things happening throughout the store.
“We’re going to have a sale, and people can pick their discount,” added Warms. “They can pull a discount ticket, and it’s going to be anywhere between 10 and 50 per cent … on items under $100.”
“There will be people selling raffle tickets, including board members, but there will tickets sold here at MCC in the furniture area. The main sales will probably happen here,” noted Reimer. “We’ve set a fairly ambitious goal for this year … we want to send half a million [dollars] to MCC … this is going to help to meet that goal.”
Also connected to 2024 being the anniversary year was a recent volunteer appreciation event where a free lunch was provided for the the store’s hundreds of volunteers over three days, and there was also a dinner at Central Station Community Centre.
“There is a special volunteer appreciation week that is done nationally,” noted board member Don Klassen. “It was great. I think it was very well received by everyone.”
