The Easter Bunny will be at Flinthills Mall for the next few weekends to help raise money for the Emporia Rescue Mission and Abundant Harvest, and Emporia’s three Lutheran churches are holding their own fundraisers for the missions, as well.
The mission provides room and board, plus job-search assistance, for men who otherwise would be homeless; Abundant Harvest serves an evening meal at no charge on Mondays through Thursdays to anyone who comes to the Heritage House, 1028 Whittier St., where Abundant Harvest is located.
Donations to the missions have dropped significantly in recent times, and director Lee Alderman hopes to keep the mission and the soup kitchen running by matching a pending grant from the Annual $1 Million Giveaway From Alan Shawn Feinstein.”
The Feinstein group has agreed to give the missions a $40,000 grant, if the money can be matched by donations by April 30.
Alderman said on Monday that donations so far have reached approximately $30,000.
Messiah Lutheran Church members sold sausage gravy, biscuits and pancakes on Saturday to raise funds for the project.
“We took in upwards of $1,500, and that is after expenses,” said Elaine Whiteneck of Messiah. “We were very, very pleased and folks seemed to really enjoy coming and sitting around visiting. It was a really, really good morning.”
St. Mark’s and Faith Lutheran churches have planned fundraisers within their own church congregations. Faith Lutheran will serve refreshments after church on Sunday, and take a special collection at that time.
St. Mark’s youths spent part of their spring break hiring themselves out for yard work and odd jobs, and brought in $260 that will be given to the shelter.
The Rev. John Davis said that St. Mark’s also is taking special offerings from the congregation each week in support of the missions.
The monies will be pooled with the funds from Messiah, and the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans will add an amount not yet determined to the total from the three churches.
The fundraiser at the mall will feature the Easter Bunny posing for photos with children from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays through April 11.
Photos will be $6 for one or $10 for two copies. The photos will be available immediately.
“We have a little printer. We print them all out right then,” said Lydia Cope, administrator and marketing director for the mall. “It’ll be exactly the same as Santa, as far as how everything’s run.”
The Easter Bunny will be located near center court the first weekend, then at center court on subsequent weekends.
Cope said that hearing about financial problems at the rescue mission and soup kitchen had been “kinda pulling at my heart.”
She mentioned it to mall merchants, who agreed to sponsor the fundraiser.
“We just decided we wanted to do something to help,” Cope said.
Plans for another fundraiser are being finalized and will be announced soon, she said.