Richwood United Methodist Church (RUMC) hosted its 5th Annual Carnival for a Cause on September 12 outside of the church.
The event is one of the missionary’s yearly fundraising and service initiatives. This year, all proceeds from the family-friendly carnival were donated to Family Promise of Southwest New Jersey (FPSWSJ), a non-profit organization based in Clarksboro that provides help and support to local families experiencing homelessness.
The organization strives to assist these families reclaim their independence by helping them with things like finding stable long-term or transitional housing and offering guidance and support on shelter diversion (an early method to help keep people out of homeless shelter) and homelessness prevention. The Southwest New Jersey branch has been active since 2003, and it is part of the nationwide Family Promise organization.
RUMC raised more than $2,000 for FPSWSJ from the carnival. The proceeds came from game tickets, food, contests and basket auctions, as well as general donations. About 150 people showed up to the carnival over its three-and-a-half hour runtime.
“Every year our committee picks a non-profit group to raise money for, and we decided FPSWSJ would be a good one,” said Carol Brozosky, a mission chairperson for RUMC. She has served in her role for almost two decades.
Brozosky said this is not the first time RUMC has supported FPSWSJ. The church previously has helped by providing meals to the organization to give out to people facing homelessness or trying to avoid it.
“For a few weeks every year, people from our congregation sign up to provide dinners,” she said. “This is just another way that FPSWSJ helps people by giving them a break on a grocery bill.”
Members of the church created handmade carnival games for the event.
In addition to resources for RUMC and FPSWSJ at the carnival, there were many other “old-fashioned,” as Brozosky described it, carnival activities for people of all ages to enjoy: a cotton candy machine, homemade carnival games like ring and dime tosses, fun prizes, and clowns making balloon animals. An auction featuring a variety of more than 30 donated items stole the show, though, leaving many attendees going home with new goodies. Boxes of fresh produce, home goods like cutting boards and children’s crafting supplies were some of the prizes.
Free live music was provided by RUMC’s in-house band, Sanctified, during the later half of the event.
RUMC decided to start a charity carnival in 2022 after someone on the committee suggested the idea. Brozosky said everyone thought it sounded like a good, fun idea.
“Then we realized, ‘Boy, this is a lot of work,’” she said. “But it’s worth it, because we do raise quite a bit of money for a small church for this endeavor.”
Brozosky said the church typically raises between $2,000 and $4,000 at the carnivals.
The committee selects a different organization or cause to raise money for at the carnival each year. In its inaugural year, the carnival raised money to help rebuild a primary school in Haiti. In the following years, RUMC has raised money for Angels Outreach Program in Pitman, South Jersey-based non-profit From We Can’t to We Can, and Richwood-based Jacob’s Ladder Nature Club, a non-profit organization that Brozosky runs.
“The congregation likes to do a lot of different things and try new things, and the carnival is one of our fun ones,” Brozosky said.
Richwood United Methodist Church hosted its 5th Annual Carnival for a Cause on September 12 outside its church.
