Loving Hearts struts its stuff

The tables in the sanctuary at Mission Bible Fellowship were full of people filling out raffle tickets for the fundraiser at Loving Hearts' annual fashion show and fundraiser Saturday June 8. Raffle tickets were for the 61 "baskets" of like-new goods displayed in the auditorium. Each basket had a box for raffle tickets where people could put in as many tickets as they wanted for a basket.

The annual event supports Loving Hearts' scholarship fund for local high school students. This year Loving Hearts provided $5,000 in scholarships to Seeley-Swan High School seniors.

The baskets were more like vessels such as laundry baskets, large wooden crates and actual baskets. The emphasis was on "large" as Loving Hearts staff had been squirreling away the top-notch donations since last years' fundraiser. A $1 raffle ticket could yield armfulls of items.

Each basket followed a theme, such as outdoors, kitchen, baby, wine and cheese party, Christmas or beach.

While raffle tickets were tallied, participants filled their plates at a buffet lunch and retreated to the sanctuary for the Fashion Show.

Mary Newpower, Loving Hearts director, welcomed everyone and introduced the Fashion Show, which featured volunteers from the shop wearing outfits composed of clothing, shoes and accessories from the shop. As the models walked through the sanctuary, Newpower described their outfits.

Newpower then introduced speaker Chelle Wallace, a Loving Hearts volunteer. Wallace artfully crafted thoughts on regret for missed opportunities, doing well now and the need for volunteers at Loving Hearts.

"What it means to be a volunteer is to choose to join in," Wallace said. "Join in and freely give yourself for others."

Using a small tin, Wallace made an analogy that the tin could be pretty to look at, or might be a home decoration. Upon opening the tin, Wallace showed that the tin held a small washcloth with a cartoon character printed on it.

"Now this has many uses," Wallace said. "It could be a washcloth, or a towel for cleaning up a spill, or hung on the wall for decoration."

Through her talk, Wallace encouraged people to "open themselves up" and see how they could contribute to the community around them.

Since Loving Hearts began in 1996 the Fashion Show has been an annual event. Through the Fashion Show and other donations Loving Hearts has provided over $500,000 to the Seeley Lake community.

Purchases and donations to the Loving Hearts Thrift Store support donations to the community foundation, food bank, senior center, and the benevolence fund - which is available to anyone in the community who comes upon an unexpected need - among other contributions. Although Loving Hearts is a ministry of Mission Bible Fellowship, anyone can volunteer there.

"I thought the Fashion Show went really well," Newpower said. "Even though there were other things going on that day in town, we still had a really good turn-out and brought in $2,600."