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10/26/2016 08:30 AMOn Friday, Nov. 4 and Saturday, Nov. 5, many months of work by the Women’s Fellowship of the North Haven Congregational Church will culminate in the group’s biggest fundraiser of the year: the New England Harvest Fair. For the past few years, Joan Bennett has chaired the event alongside Carol Mitchell.
“The fair gives us the most amount of money, plus it’s the most fun,” says Joan. “We have a lot of very talented women in the church who knit, crochet, and sew handmade items of great quality. It’s after Halloween, so Thanksgiving is coming up and people are beginning to think about Christmas gifts.”
The Harvest Fair sells a variety of items that are handmade by the Women’s Fellowship. There are scarves, doll clothes, decorated fairies, and more, as well as homemade jams, jellies, pickles, and more in ‘Grandma’s Kitchen.’ There are a number of baked goods like cupcakes, breads, cakes, and the cookie walk.
“One our most popular tables is our cookie walk,” says Joan, noting that about 40 women contribute in one way or another to the Harvest Fair. “All of the women make different cookies and you can get a bag or can and pick out all the cookies you want. There are a great assortment of cookies and they’re all delicious.”
Visitors can also get dinner on Friday night when the Women’s Fellowship is offering a chili (meat and vegetarian) and salad dinner. On Saturday, soup and sandwiches will be available.
The Women’s Fellowship created cookbooks in honor of the church’s 300th anniversary and will be selling them at the fair. There will also be several raffle baskets. In addition to handmade and homemade items, there is also a “Nearly New” tag sale room with jewelry, houseware items, pet supplies, and a children’s corner.
“The kids love being able to buy the inexpensive items in the Kids Corner,” says Joan. “We get a lot of people from the town and look forward to our fair every year because we come out with new items every year. The handmade craft items are beautiful. They are items you can’t find anywhere else and everything is reasonably priced. You can’t put a price on the value of something that’s homemade. These are really wonderful items.”
With the money raised from the Harvest Fair, the Women’s Fellowship supports the needs of the church, the community, and the world. In 2015, the group used the proceeds to purchase a new desk for the secretary. It has also supported Habitat for Humanity, bought school supplies for local students, and given back to worldwide organizations supported by the church.
“I enjoy the camaraderie that we feel for each other and we enjoy working with each other,” says Joan. “We are doing the work of the Lord and we enjoy doing it.”
While Joan has co-chaired the Harvest Fair for the past few years, she has been involved in North Haven Congregational Church for about 15 years. She and her husband Jim have lived in North Haven for 24 years and had gone to a different church, but eventually stopped attending.
“After 9-11, we felt we needed to be back with God again...We are so thankful we found this church,” says Joan. “Pastor Scott [Morrow] is one of the most wonderful people and is involved in so many things in the community. We’ve been very lucky to have him.”
Joan previously lived in Wallingford where she raised her three children. She was a nurse with Masonic Home and Hospital and after retiring four years ago, she was able to get even more involved in the community.
In addition to the Harvest Fair, the couple is involved in other events at the church, including going pink last Sunday for breast cancer awareness. Members of the congregation wore pink, sold baked good, and donated to After the Storm, which has a mission to “assist cancer survivors to heal physically, emotionally, and spiritually from the aftermath of their diagnosis and treatments and help restore balance to their lives,” according to afterthestorminc.org.
Joan and her husband not only volunteer their time at church, but they are also active members of the New Haven Lions Club, which works closely with the North Haven Lions Club. The clubs recently held vision screenings at four local schools for more than 300 children.
“Between church and the Lions, I think I’m busier now than when I worked, but it’s more fun and more rewarding,” says Joan, who also has six grandchildren. “We’ve been blessed. It’s like we have three families—our family with our relatives, the church family, and the Lions family. We get a lot of support and a lot of love from these people. We love living here at St. John’s, we love going to our church. Life is good.”
The New England Harvest Fair is Friday, Nov. 4 from 5 to 8 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 5 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the North Haven Congregational Church, 28 Church Street. For information, call 203-239-5691 or visit northhavenucc.org.