OCTOBER 8, 2009 ISSUE
Classic Cars for a Classic Culture
Three Forks Baptist Church Hosts Classic Car Show October 17
Some of the High Country’s classic cars that gathered last week for the Christian Motorcyclist Association’s 5th Annual Toy Run Betsy Church hopes will gather again on October 17 to help raise funds for the people of an ancient Mayan village in Mexico. Photo by Ron Davis
Members of Three Forks Baptist Church in Boone are calling on all High Country classic car owners to come together for a great gathering of street rod and antique cars at the church, located at 1922 Highway 421 South in Boone, on Saturday, October 17, in order to raise funds to help people of the ancient Mayan culture in Mexico.
The show of cars from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. is also to attract the public to other fundraisers that day: a craft stall, church cookbook sale and a spaghetti lunch. Organizers of the event also encourage donations from the public of reading glasses and small toys that the group can take with them to Mexico. Members of the mission group transport as few personal items as possible so that they can cram their checked baggage with gifts for the Mayans.
Sixteen members of the church have signed up for the trip in January to a small town about three miles south of Cancun and a short distance inland, said Betsy Church, an organizer of the upcoming classic car event.
The town, called Felipe Carrillo Puerto, is the location of the Sandra’s House Mayan Ministry with which the Three Forks Baptist Church missionaries work in Mexico. It is also where native Mayans who still speak the ancient language live, Church said.
The mission “began a few years ago with medical missions [to] the little village in the jungle,” she said. The group is now a service mission, and “we take small items—pencils, toys, paper—and give those out…It becomes a community event when the Anglos pull up. People start pouring out of the woodwork.”
One of the items that can make a difference instantly is reading glasses. When one woman wearing traditional costume with the intricate embroidery put on her pair, she signaled through the interpreter that “for the first time in years she was going to be doing her hand embroidery again,” said Church.
The idea for involving the High Country classic car owners arose because the stepfather of the church’s pastor, David Ricker, owns a classic car.
“There is great camaraderie in that community. The men come and their wives come with them,” said Church.
“This mission is an attempt to help the Mayan people [and] to make their lives a little bit better,” she said, adding that participants “also share the good news of Jesus Christ” in their work.
So she is hoping for a great gathering on October 17. “The more cars the better,” she said.
For more information, call Betsy Church at 828-297-6441.
Samaritan’s Feet Partners with Sandra’s House Mayan Ministry:
$5 Will Buy Shoes For A Child
The Sandra’s House Mayan Ministry is the group in Mexico that Three Forks Baptist Church group will work with in the village of Felipe Carrillo Puerto in January. Sandra’s House started about 10 years ago, said Betsy Church of Three Forks Baptist Church, and this year a group called Samaritan’s Feet, which provides shoes for the poor, has arranged for 5,000 pairs of shoes for the village children, most of whom don’t have anything fit to wear. Each pair costs $5. Sandra’s House Mayan Ministry is a nonprofit organization so all donations are tax deductible. Donations can be mailed to the ministry at PO Box 1668, Monroe, NC 28111.
Want To Go?
Date: Saturday, October 17
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m./spaghetti lunch 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Location: Three Forks Baptist Church, 1922 Highway 421 South, Boone
Cost: Participants: $15 preregister; $20 day of event. Public: free admission
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