Drink stand, yard sale raise money for Woodland Cultural Centre
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There’s nothing like a cold, refreshing glass of juice on a hot day.
Josephine Jurenas got that one right, raising money for the Woodland Cultural Centre on the weekend.
“We are a First Nations family – our family heritage is from Six Nations – so that’s always something near and dear to us, and we decided to do a yard sale,” explained Melissa Jurenas, who with husband Kris Jurenas and their children live on Sandytown Road, near Eden.
Josephine, age 7, asked if she could operate a drink stand.
They wanted to put the money they raised toward something significant, so they talked about the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, which was established on the site of the closed Mohawk Institute Residential School. A place where the children could learn about their heritage.
“It was a residential school until 1970 and now it’s a cultural centre for learning and education about the Indigenous culture and arts,” said Melissa. “They also have a Save the Evidence campaign, which is basically preserving the school physically because it is an older building. They are doing a campaign to search for potential unmarked graves there as well.”
The drink stand idea soon expanded to the sale of many other items.
“Josephine came up with all these other ideas to make stuff,” said Melissa.
“Necklaces, bracelets…” said Josephine, nodding towards an impressive display of homemade orange – and multi-coloured – bracelets and necklaces.
“And treat bags,” said Melissa. “So she’s been busy all week making stuff.”
They also sold orange hand-sized bouncy balls, which Josephine and Melissa noted had an orange scent.
“Mia (Thorburn) brought the orange cupcakes,” said Melissa, who made the orange-flavoured drink.
“Mia’s her best friend.”
The family also had draws for donated items including a Dodsley Propane gift pack and tank refill, a 3M gift pack, a colour consult with Barb’s Interiors, two chairs donated by TA Thomson Electrical, and an exclusive mug and T-shirt designed by Josephine’s artist dad, Kris. Shaw’s Ice Cream donated coupons for free ice cream scoops.
“I’m just shocked by how many people we’ve had today considering we are ‘out in the middle of nowhere.’”
At least 40 to 50 people made the trip to rural Sandytown Road, including family and friends who learned about the yard sale and drink stand on social media.
Josephine and her family had raised more than $500 Saturday, and another $500 or more Sunday.
“We were hoping for $100 for charity, we are so pleased with the turnout,” Melissa smiled. “A lot of support from people in Tillsonburg and Aylmer.”
Josephine planned to make the donation to Woodland Cultural Centre this week.
“They invited her to come with a big cheque to make the donation,” said Melissa. “So we’re so excited.”
chris.abbott@postmedia.com
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