Chocolate Lovers Fest is one sweet fundraiser for church, Christian academy
GENOA - What better way to spend a Saturday than at a 40-foot-long chocolate buffet that culminates in a chocolate fountain? That’s what dozens of people did when they attended the 12th Annual Chocolate Lovers’ Fest at the Apostolic Restoration Center (ARC) on Saturday. The fest served as a fundraiser for the church and its school, Community Christian Academy.
The buffet was filled with everything chocolate — brownies, candy bars, truffles and fudge.
“It has anything you can imagine. It’s all homemade and donated by the parents of the students in our school and people in our congregation,” said ARC Elder Jennifer Widmer. Widmer is the Ottawa County Auditor and the daughter of ARC founders Tim and Jeanne Davies.
Families, couples and friend groups attended the Chocolate Lovers’ Fest to celebrate Valentine’s Day and support the church.
Church was founded in 1988, renamed in 2017
ARC was founded in 1988 as Christ Community Church and renamed Apostolic Restoration Center in 2017 to better define the church’s mission, part of which is connecting with and supporting people in the community.
“Our tagline is, ‘When you succeed, we celebrate,’” Widmer said. “We love to be in the community. We like to socialize and be together. It’s really important for us to get out in the community and enjoy people, so this festival is just fun for us.”
Today the church is led by Senior Pastor Fred Garcia, who explained that a vital element of the church’s mission is helping people reach their life goals.
“A big part of what we do is get under people’s dreams,” Garcia said. “We find out what people’s dreams are and help them lay out a plan. After all, dreams come from God in the first place.”
Garcia described ARC as “nondenominational, full gospel.”
Church believes in signs, wonders, miracles
“We believe in all the gifts of the Spirit that were active in Jesus’ day — all the signs, wonders and miracles,” he said.
Widmer said proceeds from the Chocolate Lovers’ Fest would help fund the church’s “short list” of projects, including building updates and school needs such as new computers. Community Christian Academy is a kindergarten through 12 Christian school. It welcomes home-schoolers who want to attend part-time for specific classes.
“Everything is from a Christian worldview. We offer art, gym and music classes,” Widmer said. “Our goal is to offer affordable Christian education.”
But at Saturday’s Chocolate Lovers’ Fest, the goal was to offer a bit of sweet fun.
“I came because my friend invited me and because of my love of chocolate. Everything is wonderful and delicious. It’s a great event,” said Rita Sowinski of Holland. “We thought it was a great way to support the community and enjoy chocolate.”
Contact correspondent Sheri Trusty at sheritrusty4@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Chocolate Lovers Fest is one sweet fundraiser for church, Christian academy
