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 The pastor had plenty of pie in his face (or at least whipped cream), but it was all for a good cause as St. James Lutheran Church, Limerick, held its annual Strawberry Festival to support the church’s mission trips.
Off-and-on rain showers kept people ducking for cover – and the dunk tank volunteers wet whether in the water or not – but there was still plenty of fun and laughter at the Saturday event.
Festivities included, besides the dunk tank and pie throwing contests, a flea market, crafts, chair massage, bake table, children’s games, silent auction and sand art. The auction had everything from gift baskets to a homemade afghan and homemade quilt, to a Pocono getaway weekend to a piano, all sponsored by church families and area businesses.
Also, Limerick Police Cpl. Robert Matalavage and his K-9 Jago offered a demonstration of the K-9 unit’s work. Matalavage and his partner demonstrated finding a hidden person and conducting a criminal apprehension.
Jago, an 8-year-old black German shepherd from Budapest, Hungary, is trained in patrol work and narcotic detection, Matalavage explained to the audience. Jago is the second K-9 partner for Matalavage, who has been with the Limerick police force for 20 years. His first partner, and Limerick’s first K-9, was Bandit.
St. James Pastor Stuart Luce, between hits from the pie-throwing crowd, noted that the festival was raising funds for the church’s two trips planned this summer, with a group of about 14 or 15 going to Matamoras, Mexico. Also, a group of seven will attend the national youth gathering of the denomination for faith-building and service.
Last year the church took nearly 20 people to Matamoras, where they worked in an orphanage, conducted a vacation Bible school, finished building a church and helped with repairs for people in the community after a hurricane went through.
Bobbie Hoffman, director of discipling for St. James, stressed, the “whole reason, the whole purpose” of the festival was “every single penny that gets earned here goes to sponsor mission trips.”
The church has already sent two teams to Mississippi for hurricane relief work, and the congregation hopes to send another team yet this year.
On the Mexico trip this summer, the participants will be “sharing the love of Jesus in real, tangible ways.” The group will build churches, conduct vacation Bible school, prayer walk, and help at a children’s and women’s center. Their service is “all in the context of really trying to spread the Gospel with our hands and our hearts and our actions,” Hoffman said.
One of the coolest things about the Mexico trip, Hoffman indicated, is that it is an adult and family trip. In the past, the youth conducted mission trips, but eventually the congregation realized the adults needed to get involved, too. Last year, the ages of participants on the Mexico trip ranged from 7 to 80, including a mother-daughter pair. This year, a family of four – parents and two children – is going on the trip.
Next year, Hoffman noted, the youth will go to a Native American reservation in South Dakota for a return visit. The group went before, she said, and the teens “wanted to go back to continue the ministry they started there.”
St. James Lutheran is “really committed to reaching out,” Hoffman said. One project is Operation Smart Start, where the church provides fully-stocked bookbags to about 300 needy children in the community in the fall. The church also donates Christmas dinner baskets and grocery gift cards to area families.
The Strawberry Festival, according to Hoffman, is one way to give everyone the opportunity to “experience the privilege” of serving. Those who attended the festival are “going (on the mission trips) by your support and your interest,” she said.
She added, “God can use you and your gifts to make a difference.”
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