Where are all the pumpkins?
Each October, as the leaves on the tree in front of the church turn to brilliant gold, orange, and red, church members have waited for the arrival of pumpkins. Once they’re here, you’ve tramped around, pulling a wagon behind you and choosing pumpkins to support our Student Ministry. But as grocery stores popped up all around Columbia selling pumpkins at much cheaper prices, the Patch ceased to draw in people from surrounding communities to buy pumpkins from First Presbyterian. We had to dispose of more and more of them at the end of the month, so CE decided last spring to discontinue that fundraiser.
At the August meeting, Session approved a new fundraiser to replace the Pumpkin Patch. Each Sunday in October, our youth will be selling “stock” at $5 a share, and we invite you to buy one share or many shares to invest in their spiritual growth.
You won’t carry away a beautiful and expensive pumpkin. So what will you get for your investment? The shares you purchase will offset the costs to our families of sending our children to the Fall Retreat, Montreat, and Massanetta. The shares will help pay for our young people, who come from a number of different schools, to have fellowship and food and to connect with each other in the safe and loving environment of our church.
What you’ll be carrying away with your stock is the knowledge that you’re telling our youth that you care about their faith journeys and their emotional connection to our church and to God. They are the Church of tomorrow, and by investing in them, you’ll carry away something much more valuable than a pumpkin you have to throw away in November—the certainty that you have invested in the future of the Church.