Charity Recycling Fair for Good Causes
A charity event seeking recycling materials is scheduled for Saturday, May 2, from 8 a.m. till 6 p.m. at the Corinth Reformed Church, 129 100th St. S.E. in Byron Center. The event requires a $5 entry ticket with the chance to win one of several prizes including a new grill or giant water slide.The funds raised will go to Zoe Waters, a World Mission project to supply clean drinking water to many people. The funds will benefit the Buist Food Pantry as well.
Zoe Waters is a division of World Mission and is headquartered in Grandville. Zoe provides clean water solutions such as deep water wells, rain water catchments and water filtration systems to some of the over one billion people world-wide who lack safe drinking water. The Buist Food Pantry provides food, clothing, household goods and personal care items to those in need.
Electronics, computers, paint, scrap metal, clothing and eye glasses and coins are all items which can be donated for recycling.
Bob Hauch, an independent insurance salesman, is overseeing the project. Bob shared the genesis of his involvement in this event with us.
“Around five years ago our church, Corinth Reformed, had a sermon series based on The Hole in Our Gospel (by Richard Stearns), the book, and our pastor issued a challenge to our church and it was a simple one. He said, ‘Just do something.’ And at that time my wife and I kind of had it in our hearts that we wanted to do something with a water ministry—(supplying) clean water. And so we kind of took that as a prompting. And so we pulled together an event that we hold every year at Corinth. We set up a booth around the holiday time and ask our congregation to donate money to what we call The Water Project. “
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“The recycling event is something new. Let me tie us in to World Mission and Zoe Waters because this is a World Mission event rather than a Corinth event this year.” Bob added that after they did their first water event, a young man that was part of the church and had went to Kenya and started a school, needed a well and they helped with that. Bob said they learned that a partner on the ground was needed because of all the variables in supporting a project like this. So they became connected with Zoe Waters. He is on the advisory committee now.
Bob wanted to dig more wells and get more Treasures (World Mission’s solar-powered audio Bibles) out into the world. “I talked to someone who said their church had done a scrap metal drive,” said Bob, “and when that was fairly successful I just kind of expanded it from there.” When Bob and his wife moved into a new home several years ago, he painted several times and had a lot of gallons of paint left over. He got creative and decided to recycle the paint and that led to other recycling projects which led to the recycling fair.
“You can load up whatever you’ve got in your house or your basement, or your garage, your shed, you want to get rid of, and bring it down to the one day event, and we’ve got different stations where people can pull up and unload whatever it is they have. God put us together with Zoe and World Mission at the right time.” He added he loves what World Mission is doing. “We’re using clean water to open the door so that we can bring the gospel and that’s really what’s most important to us.”
Bob has a great sense of humor. When asked what his goals are as far as actually money raised, he said, “We’re hoping for a line of traffic at the church!” He added that they hope to bring in about $10,000 for the event. He added that “I guess it’s kind of a lofty goal,” but he added there is a $5 charge to get in and that, “We’re doing this for charity.” The benefit is for both parties, as families can clean up their junk and donate what they no longer need, and “there is a purpose behind it.” Bob added he is thankful for the sponsors that donated items for the winning tickets.
Remember, this Saturday, May 2, is the date to get rid of some stuff from your garage, and to help Zoe Waters and World Mission, as well as the Buist Food Pantry.
