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LOVE IS AN ACTION WORD
We want to celebrate how we show love through service, community engagement and with tangible contributions rather than just words. This is our theme for the 29th Fruits of the Harvest, fundraiser for Outreach Ministries where the whole parish comes together in fun and fellowship to support this important work. Come with us as we gather to do what we do best...have fun while we do good work.
We’re raising funds for grants to support 15 Outreach ministries, our on-campus events, and hands-on projects.
We are striving to have a fun night that not only brings us together for a great party with a catered dinner, socializing, silent auction and raffles, Fund-A-Need, but also to inform you about the incredible work that these groups are doing to help better people’s lives.
We will be showing a special video during our two services on Sunday, September 6th, made by Carolyn Bried, that features short clips of the great work that our Outreach Ministry Partners are doing that demonstrate their love in action for the people they are helping. We can't wait to see it.
Our Special Guest Speaker for the evening will be Maureen Wright, Executive Director of The Respite Inn. We will hear about this bed and breakfast style home for overnight stays, care and activities for persons with developmental disabilities ages 18 to 59 enabling families to have a periodic break from care-giving.
All the net proceeds from the event are distributed as grants to each of these ministries. The best Outreach Committee meeting of the year is when we get to allocate all the grants to the ministries, and the many events that our parishioners take part in at Saint Timothy's. Their work is amazing and they help those in need in so many ways. All these worthwhile organizations are listed on the Beneficiaries page of this website and in our Outreach Ministry Partners flyer on our Saint Timothy’s church website under “Outreach.” There are live links to most of these organizations own websites if you wish to learn more about them.
It's a great way for newcomers to become involved and meet people to become part of the family that is Saint Timothy’s. This is a parish-wide event. We need your help. We even have a “Helpers & Donors Signup” page with Signup Genius on this website menu button where you can volunteer and make donations of gift cards and wine. Also, check the weekly Thursday online announcements and the monthly Tidings newsletter that is emailed to you if we have your email on file. Call the office, 925.837.4993 x110, and let us add you to the emails. It's the only way for you to know what's happening for all upcoming news and work parties. Our July bulletin, “Tidings”' features Fruits of the Harvest articles and a large layout of all our Outreach Ministry Partners, Events, and projects that are benefited by the net proceeds from FOTH.
Singles are very welcome. Invite your friends. We have extra invitations at the bulletin board.
HISTORY, INTERESTING FACTS, and FOTH SURVEY REVIEW
History - Our first event in 1997 was formed to help Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota after a terrible flood. We thought we would raise about$2,000, but we ended up sending them $16,340. Since then, the Fruits of the Harvest (FOTH) fundraiser has raised a net of over $947,600 and given away much more than a million dollars in grants with the addition of donations and the church budget allocation for Outreach of $15,000. Over the past 27 years, we have given funds to over 22 beneficiaries on a local, national, and global level, and supported Outreach through our God’s Hands short term projects at St. Timothy’s.
FOTH SURVEY REVIEW
For the benefit of newcomers, we are including this information on a survey done in 2018 to give you some background on the event.
In early 2018, we asked for parish input with an FOTH survey and your responses gave us the chance to improve. We listened and made many changes where we could. Some of you are new and are not familiar with our fundraiser for Outreach. Here is a review of the information which addresses some of the topics raised in the survey.
ONE BIG POT: The net proceeds from FOTH are added together and distributed in grants by the Outreach Committee to all our Outreach Ministry partners and events depending on size and need, number of people being served, impact of our grants on the organization and more. The list of Outreach Partner Ministries is posted on this website under “Beneficiaries” and all other information on our Outreach endeavors is posted in the Saint Timothy’s church website under “OUTREACH.”
"It all costs so much.” In order to raise money, we must spend money. Our costs have been increasing across the board as we have seen in our daily lives. Everything is more than it used to cost. The yearly church budget allotment to Outreach was raised to $15,000 (thank you to the Vestry) and other donations and rollover funds are added to our net amount.
We have not come up with a better way to raise this much money to help so many people who need our support, and to do the work that we are called to do.
“Concerned that the ticket price does not go to the beneficiaries.” Ticket Prices include much more than the price of your dinner. Our costs include the invitation paper, printing, and stamps, the software to help with registrations, banking, and website, decorations, rentals, catered food, bar, and publicity for the event. We hire servers who are in need a work, so we are serving out our mission to help people in need and they are helping us to do the hard work of serving and cleaning at our function.
Our caterers make the main dishes, but we make the salad, appetizers, and dessert to keep costs as low as we can while still giving you a nice dinner and a fun ambiance to provide an enjoyable experience so you’ll come back again next year. This event raises way more than what it costs.
“Younger people don’t come because it’s too expensive to hire a sitter.” By lowering the ticket prices and by offering free childcare, we hope to attract younger families to come and take part in this event. In 2018, only two children came to our childcare. In 2019 we had 11 children attend, so we will continue doing the free childcare so families can enjoy the event. We also are offering dinner tickets for youth for $18.
“Don’t like the asking for money at the Fund-A-Need.” The Fund-A-Need (F-A-N) is an event where people donate money without purchasing an item. We hold up our bid numbers on the backs of our catalogs to register a bid that the speaker calls out loud. This practice of donating funds is used in 85% of non-profit and school fundraisers.
It is now a major source of our donations which in 2025 brought in $22,000. This is totally tax deductible, while bidding in the Silent Auction is only tax deductible on what you bid above the value of the item. The F-A-N auction also allows people who did not win in the Silent Auction to still donate to the event that night. If all this still makes you feel uncomfortable, we do hope that you will still continue supporting Outreach with a mailed in donation. Helping make lives better is what we’re all trying to do here.
" How can I just donate money to Outreach?” Monetary Donations are also given by very generous people who choose not to attend, don’t like big parties, or have conflicts but still want to support all the Outreach Ministries. Just fill out the RSVP card that comes with your invitation, and specify “Donation.” In 2025, a record $45,094 was donated in this manner.
IMPACT OF COVID YEARS : During these years, all of you opened your hearts and pocket books to help those who were suffering and in dire need. We had to revert to 3 years of virtual FOTH. We netted $68,905 in 2020. We had two anonymous donations of $15,000 and we used emergency reserves of $10,000 given for this purpose. We gave record grants of $93,550 to all our organizations in 2020 throughout the year. We didn’t think we would ever raise that much again, but we came close in 2025.
Grants
given in 2025: We netted $71,500, and with the added funds, we gave away grants
of $90,100 to15 organizations, events and programs that our church supports.
What a great feeling to be able to send a
grant for $11,000 to Trinity Center, a day shelter with many services for
homeless men and women in Walnut Creek; or $11,000 to Loaves & Fishes, who
are serving almost 4,000 nourishing hot lunches out of 5 dining rooms and a
mobile van; or to send $6,500 toGAIA Global Health in Malawi whose programs impact AIDS with many
services; or to give 10,000 to Monument Crisis Center, a food pantry in Concord
that offers many services for families, children and seniors; or to send a
$6,000 grant to provide addiction recovery services for clients at Options
Recovery Services in Berkeley.
This increase shows the commitment this parish
has to reach out and help those in need. Our Love is an Action Word in
our giving and our hands on work.
“The price of auction items is out of my reach.” Auction Items will be offered in many price ranges. There are also raffle items where anyone can participate by putting in a dollar raffle ticket for an item. Of course, this is a fundraiser, so there will be people bidding big to support Outreach Ministries, but we appreciate and value every single donation, no matter what the size, whether it be monetary, time or talent, and no one needs to feel uncomfortable.
Paraphrasing what Brene’ Brown said about her fundraiser, “Those who donated large amounts was breathtaking. One big donation means more money goes to folks in need. Multiple people making smaller donations means more eyes and hearts on the problem. We need both. And you delivered.”
“The donations are the same every year.” Since we are getting the majority of our donations from our parishioners, you will probably see repeats of their wonderful donations. We make an effort to get more diversity, and there has been a variety of new items. We no longer seem to get the favorites such as a large number of dinner parties given by parishioners, or as many offers for vacation homes for a variety of good reasons. We surely would love to have those.
Kimberly Bryant introduced the Mystery Boxes in 2019, and they were a resounding success. Donors provide contents of a box that is valued at $150 or more. The boxes are anonymous, wrapped, and are sold for a fixed price. This year we are changing it to make each box have a silent bid sheet based on the value in the box since some donors went way above a $150 value. It is great fun to open up and see your surprise.
Join us to show our love in action
SAINT TIMOTHY’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
