BLOOMINGTON - Illinois Mennonite Relief Sale co-chairman Don Roth has been involved with the sale since the very beginning.

His uncle, the late John Roth, pitched the idea to Don and his brother, Herbert, after reading an article about a similar effort out East. That first Illinois sale at the Angus Sale Barn near Goodfield raised about $5,000 from a crowd of about 1,000.

There are times when Roth, of Morton, can't believe the sale is still going strong a half-century later.

"Fifty years? No, no way," he said, laughing. "Thousands of people come. … I'm a tremendously blessed man to be able to work with board members who were dedicated to the relief sale, to MCC and the outreach of the church."

More than 15,000 people are expected to attend the 50th Anniversary Illinois Mennonite Relief Sale Friday night and Saturday at Bloomington's Interstate Center.

They'll eat fresh-made strawberry and apple pies, homemade bakery goods and ice cream. They'll consume about 4.5 tons of homemade sausage, countless pancakes, chicken, fish and popcorn.

They'll spend more than $100,000 on auction items that include exceptional handmade quilts, afghans and comforters made by area church groups. Amish-made furniture donated from the Arthur area includes a dining room table and six chairs and a five-piece bedroom suite. The auction also will feature a restored 1958 Chevy Apache pickup truck donated by Chevrolet dealer Sam Leman Automotive in Bloomington; it will be sold about noon Saturday.

Continuing a tradition, a hammer will be sold to the highest bidder for the ninth time since it was auctioned at the first sale in 1959.

About $200,000 will be raised sale for the worldwide charitable efforts of the Mennonite Central Committee and for local charities that help the poor. The Illinois relief sale has raised more than $6.5 million in 49 years.

The Bloomington event is one of 32 relief sales each year in the U.S. and Canada. Together, they raise about $5.5 million to fund the MCC's work in 56 countries, aiding victims of natural disasters and wars. About 20 more countries receive material and food assistance. Twenty percent of the proceeds stay in Central Illinois to support programs to help the poor, including food banks and soup kitchens.

Delton Litwiller started volunteering with the relief sale in 1971 - "When I still had hair," he joked.

His first job was as a "church promoter." He coordinated relief sale efforts of his Mennonite church in Hopedale, became a relief sale board member in 1973 and joined Roth as co-chairman in 1976.

"It didn't take long to realize when I got fully involved - should I say, totally engulfed. It takes 13 months a year to do a relief sale," he said.

Litwiller served as co-chair until last year. Jess Slager of Hopedale is co-chair with Roth this year. Litwiller continues on the board, served on the MCC board and chaired the group's efforts in the U.S. and Canada for six years in the mid-1990s.

Volunteers at heart of success

Litwiller said the 1,500 volunteers from Mennonite, Apostolic Christian and Amish churches are the reason for the sale's continued success.

"Volunteers are the heart and soul of the program," he said. "This is a place people can get personally involved. It gives everyone a chance to exercise their faith. There is a lot of faith involved. It has the right perspective, a base in scripture and concern for individuals. It runs deep and has a way of affecting people, their faith and their joy."

"This is an effort of love and effort put together," added Steve Schwoerer, a dairy farmer from rural Bloomington who is president of the relief sale board. "You feel good about the effort, you feel good about seeing people come, and you have a good product - going out and doing relief efforts. It witnesses to people who come to the sale. We hope somehow we have witnessed to them and inspired them to come back and be part of this in the future."

Schwoerer, who helps park cars during the sale, credited the event's longevity to help from other denominations and to Mennonites who support traditions like the sale while taking change in stride. Roth described how attendance grew so much in the relief sale's first five years that it forced organizers to move the event from the original site to Exposition Gardens in Peoria. Five years later, a city fire marshal showed up just as a 500-member Mennonite chorus from Kansas arrived to entertain the gathering.

"It was packed, literally packed," Roth said.

The fire marshal advised sale organizers to move and mentioned a new place under construction in downtown Peoria. The next year, the sale moved to the new Peoria Civic Center, where it stayed a few years until state high school basketball games were scheduled on the same weekend. Cramped again, the relief sale left Peoria the next year and moved to the newly opened Interstate Center in Bloomington in 1998.

Roth and Litwiller are confident the relief sale will be around for years to come.

"You feel a commitment to the quality of the program and making it available, not only to the volunteers, but to communities to let people know there are others in the world who are struggling and not of their own making," Litwiller said. "It humbles one to realize what it means for a family to escape their homeland and escape to a refugee camp, to wonder how a family copes. What are their needs?"

There are other reasons the relief sale will go on, Litwiller said.

"There is nothing better than a piece of strawberry pie and a dip of ice cream - or two," he said.

---

Relief Sale

What: 50th Illinois Mennonite Relief Sale

When: Friday and Saturday

Where: Interstate Center, Bloomington

Times: Friday, the lunch stand opens at noon; sales of barbecued chicken dinners, rib-eye steak and butterfly pork chop sandwiches begin at 5 p.m.; most booths open at 5:30 p.m. Auction is from 6 to 9 p.m.

On Saturday, breakfast of pancakes and fresh sausage begins at 6 a.m.; booths open at 7 a.m. Auction begins at 9 a.m.

Booths include: Art and handicrafts; baby booth; books; butcher shop; caramel apples; Children's Discovery toys; Dutch Market; flower box and more. Ten Thousand Villages offers crafts from nations served by the Mennonite Central Committee.

Cost: Admission and parking are free.