Family Visits and A Pink Tractor

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and I'm sure there are few people who haven't been affected one way or the other by this horrible disease. Right now and for the entire month we have on display inside our Market a full sized John Deere tractor which was painted pink by a friend in honor of his wife who is currently battling breast cancer. (We moved it inside when it got cold outside.) Next to the tractor is information which you can take home or to direct you to donate to help researchers find a cure. This picture is of three sisters who came to visit the Market with a bus tour group. They were from Peoria, Illinois and were just thrilled to see this tractor. Their mother and grandmother had both died as a result of breast cancer. They were full of life and living it to the fullest with great optimism and joy. They were an inspiration!

Our Scarecrow Contest is also in full swing this month, and I can honestly declare it a wonderful success! The idea is that visitors and shoppers bring in non-perishable food items and place it in a box next to their favorite scarecrow and/or vendor. Our scarecrows are fun and some of them are quite creative! The contest part is for our vendors and at the end of October we will determine the winner based on how much food they collected! The vendor gets a nice prize, but the important thing is that we are collecting a boat load of food to help feed the hungry. On the 31st all of the food will be given to Joseph's Storehouse, a local food pantry run by Voice Ministries here in Elkhart.





In my last post I wrote about Lillian and how she came out just to bring some food. In this post I have to tell you about a lovely family who came out to do the same thing. I talked to the dad and he explained how he read about our Scarecrow Contest and food collection on our monthly email newsletter which he had subscribed to off of our website. He thought that it would be a great opportunity for he and his wife to do a fun thing with their two kids and also help them to learn to give to other people who are less fortunate. I was so happy to hear this story since this is exactly the kind of activity and opportunity we as a Market hope to offer. People connecting with people!