For the second straight year, a West End ministry is opening the doors in a sweet way.
Cher Paulson and the team at Living Bible Explorers are excited to welcome Winnipeggers in for the second annual open house and dessert auction.
"Not only are we going to have a dessert auction, like pies and cakes for sale, but we have a new facility for people to come and see," Paulson said.
LBE recently moved into a new location at 590 Alverstone Street. Paulson said that anyone who had gone to the previous location on Burnell is invited to come and check out the new space.
"God has blessed us this past year with a huge miracle. We want people to come and see our place. We actually have enough room that we're going to leave it set up as you would see coming in for programming. It's very kid-friendly. Bring the whole family, and we can hang out together, take some tours, and there's going to be supper for purchase."
The evening will kick off with a barbecue dinner for purchase between 5 and 6 p.m. After dinner, the dessert auction will start at 6 p.m. with a bake sale following after.
Paulson said that the bake sale is so that nobody misses out on a sweet treat. "If you weren't able to get something in the dessert auction, you still come with whatever money you want to give, and you can buy something from the bake sale."
For the last 56 years, LBE has been serving the West End, sharing the love of Jesus, and Paulson has no plans to slow down. "We've been there for generations and we will be there for generations to come and build relationships with people and share the love of Jesus. Our ultimate goal is to have people come to know Jesus and make Him the Lord of their lives, and then get them plugged into the life of a local church in walking distance to them."
Building relationships within the community is the first step. "We do a lot of programming for General Wolf School, which is right across from us. We do drop-ins, lunch clubs, and Bible clubs. We also have a kind of a youth group on Wednesday nights and then we have a family program on Saturdays where we are in that community to build relationships."
The second annual Open House and Dessert auction is on Monday, June 23.
The fundraising goal of the night is $20,000. While there is no admission fee to attend, donations will be accepted to keep the ministry strong.