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08/15/2018 08:30 AMYou could say 10 percent of every peach Diane Powers peels in the wee hours of Saturday, Aug. 18 will make an impact across the world, in Tanzania.
That’s because Diane and the small army of volunteers manning the 55th annual North Guilford Country Fair and Auction at North Guilford Congregational Church (NGCC) will help NGCC send 10 percent of the day’s profits—including sales of the fair’s famed peach shortcake—to help better the lives of orphaned children and teens in Tanzania, via a donation to local non-profit The Small Things (TST).
“TST is a charity in Tanzania founded by Bekka Ross Russell, a Branford resident. We were inspired when she came to the church to talk her about her work,” says Diane.
Bekka’s Story
When Bekka moved to Branford in 2016, her story was featured as a Person of the Week story in The Sound (see the story here). Bekka founded The Small Things at age 23, just one year after her first volunteer effort, at age 22, to help the Tanzania orphanage that remains at the core of TST today. Her nonprofit brings together people from all over the world to help orphaned and vulnerable children in Tanzania, build families for those that don’t have them, and keep kids in families wherever possible.
Earlier this month, The Sound caught up with Bekka, who was in Tanzania at TST with her husband, Riz, and their adopted children Saimoni and Zawadi. Bekka spoke about the generosity of residents back home who support TST.
“We’ve been very lucky,” says Bekka. “We have some really lucky partners in Connecticut and across the country, and across this world, who support us.”
The organization has an annual budget of about $400,000, which covers a lot of ground.
“With that budget in the U.S., you could have a couple of employees and provide some services,” says Bekka. “We’ve got 62 employees and 160 or so kids under our care. With $500, we can feed the orphanage for a month, so it goes pretty far. But we also have a lot of kids in residential, and well over 100 outreach and reunified kids, who we continue to support. So it adds up. And a lot of the support we received comes from Connecticut and from the good will of local residents.”
Right now, TST has a special item on its wish list: a $15,000 mountain-climbing 4x4 vehicle.
“We need a new vehicle badly to get to our more rural families,” says Bekka.
The vehicle will replace an aging minivan and allow TST to continue to reach remote villages with its outreach and family preservation programs (fundraising is underway at www.thesmallthings.org/4x4).
Bekka and her family will be returning to Branford this week. That’s just in time for her son and daughter to resume schooling at Mary T. Murphy School, and also just in time for Bekka to reunite with Diane at the NGCC Country Fair and Auction on Aug. 18.
“We’re very excited that we’ll be at the Country Fair,” says Bekka, who hopes to share TST information with visitors and thank as many people as possible for the support the fair will provide.
“Like we say, a lot of small acts brought together can bring change. It’s the Mother Theresa quote, ‘We can do no great things, only small things with great love,’” says Bekka. “So I think it’s great to be bringing that back to the community; and really thanking them for what they’ve contributed. It’s been very much a group effort.”
Come to the Fair
If you live in North Branford and Branford, no doubt you’ve seen the blue “Country Fair” lawn signs beckoning shoreline residents. NGCC’s North Guilford Country Fair and Auction takes place rain or shine on Aug. 18 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the church and grounds, 159 Ledge Hill Road, Guilford. As always, admission is free, notes Diane.
While supporting TST is more than enough reason for folks to come out and enjoy this old-fashioned event, there are plenty of other reasons, too. The fair features live music and offers selections of food, handcrafts, tools, toys, books, and jewelry as well as a silent auction, quilt show, farm animals, kiddie games and crafts, tractor-powered train rides on Little Toot, and a live auction underway all day.
As a long-time Missions Committee member and current co-chair with Marsha Graves, Diane is doubly dedicated to helping the fair and auction succeed so that NGCC can best assist TST. The church votes each year to select the event’s charitable beneficiary.
“Last year, our donation was given to Columbus House for the Middlesex Family Shelter,” says Diane. “For the last 35 years, at the New Haven [Columbus House] facility, monthly our church provides a dinner meal, which feeds between 75 to 100 homeless people.”
For all the assistance NGCC has given Columbus House through the years, Diane was honored to accept, on behalf of NGCC, the John S. Martinez Community Service Award at the Columbus House annual meeting in December 2017. The plaque, together with certificates of recognition for service from U.S. Senator Chris Murphy and the State of Connecticut, are on display in the church library.
A Deep Commitment
The daughter of a minister, Diane has always felt a deep commitment to help the less fortunate by giving back to her community locally and globally.
“I believe we can learn so much from visiting and immersing ourselves in many different ways of life,” says Diane.
Diane was just out of college when she began sponsoring children in need in South America through World Vision, beginning with a child in Ecuador. She has continued providing monthly sponsorships to children for the last 40 years.
Following in her mother’s footsteps, Diane taught Sunday School at NGCC while raising her two daughters with her husband, Mark. As their children grew up, she transitioned to volunteering on the church’s Christian Education Committee, which includes youth programs.
“Our youth programs are a huge focus for our church,” says Diane. “When my children were living at home, they were extremely active in Sunday School, Youth Group, [and] mission trips and served as deacons.”
After her recent retirement as a Madison elementary school teacher, Diane turned her energy toward building NGCC’s Missions Committee and its programs. She served as committee chair last year and now co-chairs with Marsha Graves. The mission projects are supported by the efforts of the members of the NGCC church family.
“It’s always a joy to see the generosity of the congregation,” says Diane.
That’s what she sees in the congregation this time of year, too. In the run-up to the North Guilford Country Fair, church committee members and volunteers have been working hard to gather hundreds of items that will be on display and up for sale as part of the day’s fun.
“The fair requires much preparation and all hands on-deck during the day of the fair,” says Diane.
For her part, Diane will join her co-volunteers once again in the early morning on fair day, to prepare the fair’s traditional, freshly made peach shortcake using local peaches from Bishop’s Orchards. She’s also looking forward to enjoying the event together with her family, friends from church, and the shoreline community.
“The fair is a wonderful way for the community to come together,” says Diane.
For more information on the North Guilford Country Fair and Auction, visit www.northguilforducc.org. To learn more about The Small Things, visit thesmallthings.org.