St. Thomas Lutheran Church’s annual Fall Fair on Nov. 22 was deemed a success by organizers who raised funds to help a number of charitable projects in the community.
The church, located at 17700 Old Cutler Rd., hosted its yearly festival featuring local crafts, homemade baked goods, a rummage sale, a hamburger café and a silent auction.
Diana Orme of the church said that the fair fundraiser and neighborhood get-together assists with their efforts.
“Proceeds will benefit Lutheran Services of South Florida,” Orme said. “St. Thomas’ homeless ministries makes 150 to 200 sandwiches monthly to take downtown to the homeless in conjunction with other neighborhood churches so that the homeless receive nourishment weekly.
“Our silent auction funds will be given to Lutheran Disaster Response which is helping the ebola outbreak response, U.S. flooding and tornadoes, plus many others,” she said. “We also had our café to raise money for a Habitat Faith House.”
In addition to those activities at the fair, a Blood Mobile was present. Attendees gave 13 pints of blood.
The fair began more than 30 years ago with crafts made only by the women members, but now the event, organized by the Women of the Church, includes outside craft vendors. The entire congregation participates in the production of the fair.
St. Thomas raised $1,533 during the month of October for the Sandy B. Muller Breast Cancer Foundation, which helps local victims of breast cancer. The church had its first annual Blessing of the Bikes on Sept. 9 and the annual Blessing of the Animals on Oct. 12. “We would like the community to join us on Christmas Eve,” Orme said.
“We have a free concert by Miami’s Top Brass at 6:30 p.m. followed by our traditional family service at 7 and a Candlelight service at 11 p.m. St. Thomas is a small caring church with a big heart doing the work of Christ.”
Call 305-232-1227 or send email to StThomasChr@aol.com for information.
