Pop-up vendor event raises funds for youth group

Nov. 22—LENOIR — This weekend, North Catawba Baptist Church is hosting a fundraising event in order to raise money for their youth group to visit the Ark Encounter, a life-sized representation of Noah's Ark, in Williamstown, Kentucky next month.

On Saturday, Nov. 26, North Catawba Baptist Church (1596 N Catawba Church Ave, Lenoir) will hold a pop-up local vendor event in the church parking lot from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be food trucks selling food and roughly 15 vendors offering handcrafted merchandise such as wreaths, quilts, and other seasonal items.

"It's not just about helping the youth for their upcoming even," said Associate Youth Pastor Alejandro Franco. "It's also to help the community. It gives those people with small businesses the opportunity to promote their high-quality products."

Mirando Franco, Alejandro's wife, works behind the scenes to bring events like these together for the youth group.

"I'm very passionate about our youth," she said. "Their age group is so sensitive, and they're being fed a lot of things in their daily lives that draw them to a different perspective that's not a faith-based perspective ... the trip to the Ark Encounter is not just to have fun and learn, but to build that faith back up, show them what to look forward to. They deserve the miracle work that God did and be able to extend that hope to everything going on in their lives. It's a hard time for them right now, and we want to build up the hope and love."

Alejandro added, "Our purpose is to make sure they have the proper tools to go out into the real world."

Miranda and Alejandro are also passionate about helping small, local businesses thrive.

"Last year, coming out of the pandemic, God told us to open up a small business," said Miranda. "We had gotten to see the small business side of things. We started developing a passion in our neighborhood for small businesses struggling through the pandemic. We had about 20 vendors in our little store ... Trying to come up with a fundraiser event for youth, I was trying to think, 'Who else could we help in the community?' It's no better time for people to come out and shop at these small business."

This year, the main motto that Alejandro wants to impart to the youth group is "Work, Worship, and Play."

"We all love to play, but we also have to install a sense of workmanship and work ethic in them," he said. "Our mission statement is to 'Be the example,' just like in 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 12: 'be thou an example' ... A lot of times we overlook the youth as a whole cause they're young, but we wanted to let them know that there's always someone looking up to you. You are an example for someone else."

Join the youth group and members of North Catawba Baptist Church on Saturday and spread the gift of giving this holiday season.

On Saturday, Dec. 3, North Catawba Baptist Church will take part in the Hudson Christmas Parade.

"Come out and support us there," said Miranda. "The whole goal is so that people will be interested in helping youth, here and everywhere."

Contact Alejandro Franco by email at associatepastoralejandro@northcatawbabaptist.com or by calling 828-728-9253. Follow North Catawba Baptist Church on Facebook for more information.