This non profit event
involves churches in Nebraska and Colorado and the sale proceeds are distributed
through the Mennonite Central
Committee. Everyone is welcome no matter what your religious beliefs are.
Your support and participation is very much needed and appreciated. Please come
enjoy the satisfaction of helping others! The Nebraska Relief Sale is only one
of the many held in the United States and Canada. It is an annual event to raise
funds to meet human needs. By attending this and other
Relief Sales you help support the worldwide relief programs of MCC.
Proceeds from the sale
go to Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). MCC is the relief, service and
development agency of North American Mennonite and Brethren in Christ Churches.
MCC seeks to demonstrate God's love through committed women and men who work
among people suffering from poverty, conflict, oppression and natural disaster.
Volunteers work to remove barriers that separate people from each other and from
God in a ministry of reconciliation. MCC's relief work involves providing
material aid such as wheat, beans, clothing and medical supplies to meet
emergency needs. Long-term development workers including teachers, engineers,
nurses and agriculturists promote a better life for individuals and communities.
Ninety percent (90%) of MCC's budget goes directly into these ministries.
MCC
was born in the United States in the shadow of World War
I. It was a difficult time for the
pacifist Mennonites as many remained faithful to their beliefs and refused
to participate in the war effort. In the giving of "material aid",
some Mennonites felt they could again be seen as patriotic
Americans. Being of the
conviction that - in order to be genuine- love must show itself in action,
American Mennonites formed what became known as Mennonite Central Committee
in 1920 to meet the needs of suffering fellow Mennonites
in Russia. Tons of food
and supplies were shipped overseas. By 1940 MCC began a growth period in
response to the agony of war and concern for peace. Since that time the concern
for suffering humanity by Mennonite, Brethren in Christ and Amish congregations
spread rapidly to include services to people in need throughout the world.
Some 1400 people work in more than 55 countries around the
world. MCC is currently
involved in: overseas development (education, health, agriculture), peace
and justice issues, relief work, employment development both
in North America and
overseas, immigration and refugee assistance and more.
MCC believes that
service to one's fellow human is an integral part of Christian faith, a teaching
of Christ emphasized in the Anabaptist movement of Reformation times in Europe.
Volunteers try to pull down barriers that separate people from each other and
from God in a ministry of reconciliation.
Mennonites trace their
roots back to the early 16th Century and are named after an early Anabaptist
leader, Menno Simons. Mennonites believe in adult baptism. Believers are
baptized when they are ready to do so, usually as youths or young adults. The
word Anabaptist derives from the practice in the early church of rebaptizing
adults who had been baptized as infants.
Etched into the
Mennonite consciousness is the call of Christ to minister to the hungry, the
thirsty, the stranger (Matthew 25:36-37). Especially since the 1940's,
Mennonites have developed a substantial ministry of emergency relief and
development service which stand along side church extension. According to
Mennonite understanding of the Bible (centered on the life and teachings of
Jesus), violence and war are contrary to God's will. Mennonites believe war and
violence violate the sacredness of human life. Hence, Mennonites are generally
pacifists. Mennonites continue to stress peace making and family relationships
(both spiritual and biological relationships) as important for wholeness. For
more information on Mennonites please go to the Mennonite
Information Center and the MCC booth at the sale.
