Stories

Posted: Apr 03, 2020
The safety and well-being of our attendees, volunteers and community are of the utmost importance to us. In light of the current public health crisis, the New Hamburg Mennonite Relief Sale (NHMRS) organizing committee has made the difficult decision to cancel the much-loved and much-anticipated 2020 NHMRS in its regular format. During these times of uncertainty, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC... Read More
Posted: May 05, 2019
John Reimer, Chair of the NHMRS Committee, shares a new initiative taking place at the 2019 sale. “Our auction team has been extensively researching online options for our quilt sales and we are excited to announce that we will be simultaneously auctioning quilts online and in person during the sale. More info. about this initiative and how to sign up to bid online will be on our website: nhmrs.... Read More
Posted: Apr 11, 2017
Quilt # 164 was the last quilt that Neta Dyck of St. Catharines designed, cut and appliqued and quilted.  The name she had chosen for the quilt was “Sunrises”.  She died on December 5, 2016. She set up the frame in her small apartment (where the bed, living room are all one) attached to a long term care facility here in St. Catharines.  She was determined to sew and finish this... Read More
Posted: May 25, 2016
Over the years, pie baking was just one of the things that the Stirling Ave. WMA did for the Mennonite Relief Sale. The preparation and baking for the HUNDREDS of pies was done in one of Bingemans banquet kitchens. Making the pies involved many people from a few congregations.  The donated fruit for the pies came from Vineland and had been prepared by the ladies of a church in that area the... Read More
Posted: May 21, 2016
“I have attended most of the sales, but not quite all. We have been making tea balls since the sale began. I remember we used to have a booth at the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival and sold tea balls there. The money we made there went toward the expenses of our tea ball project at the relief sale. During the first years, we used to be in the main building in the left corner at the far end. We... Read More
Posted: May 20, 2016
“My memories of the day of the first sale are not as clear as the meeting before the sale at Erb Street Mennonite Church. The women met to plan what they could do to help make it a success. I had been invited to attend as a representative of a Markham-Waterloo Mennonite sewing circle. Mrs. Byler was there to talk to us about things that sell well at the Pennsylvania relief sale. Quilts are a very... Read More
Posted: May 18, 2016
“My mind goes back to the very first year when we made 200 dozen tea balls, using regular household deep fryers (one dozen at a time). By the second year we were using commercial-size deep fryers and for a number of years making more tea balls each year. I remember selling them for $1.25 a dozen. I also remember being in the arena and how worried we were when they moved us outside. We were afraid... Read More
Posted: May 09, 2016
Those first years we would make the tea ball batter on Thursday and store it in the Egg Grading Station refrigeration room. On Friday we would make tea balls in Elmira and later in the day move to New Hamburg and continue all through the evening. Very early Saturday morning, a crew would be on hand to make tea balls while the crowd watched and waited for the tea... Read More
Posted: May 02, 2016
by Jason Gingrich I have been a volunteer for the Mennonite Central Committee Relief Sale for about 27 years. I started as a small kid coming with my dad, Jim Gingrich, for the second shift of flipping sausages for the breakfast tent for Erb St. Mennonite Church. I always looked forward to going with him and Terry Jutzi to help out. After the sale both families would meet for a bbq at one... Read More
Posted: Apr 18, 2016
Another story from the past.By Florence Schlegel, of East Zorra Mennonite Church "In February of 1967, our local WMSC received a letter from the sale committee listing a variety of projects that our group could choose from to get involved with. "Have your pick," was the invitation. Our response was a definite, "Not the yeast doughnuts!" But guess what - East Zorra, Tavistock and Cassel churches... Read More

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