To the editor:
A letter, written by David Bonner, regarding the DDA/ United Methodist Church which appeared in The Citizen has greatly offended me. (‘DDA, church’conflict of interest, unprofessional,? Oct. 20, page 8). I am not a DDA member. I do not live in the village. I do not own a business or work in Ortonville. I am, however, a member of the Ortonville United Methodist Church.
Mr. Bonner states that BB&E was started, ‘for the purpose of raising money for the DDA and having a professional event for the whole community to attend.? The mission statement for BB&E is as follows:
‘The Beets, Beats, & Eats is here to serve Ortonville, by providing locally grown, fresh, high quality produce and products, and to provide local farmers, producers,organizations, musicians and artisans with an economic outlet in historic downtown Ortonville.? Our Mission: ‘To create an opportunity to inspire community spirit.?
I see nothing pertaining to raising money for the DDA in the mission statement.
Now let’s look at what the Ortonville United Methodist Church does before, during, and after the event. The OUMC had to get a food service license from Oakland County. In order to serve food to the public, the church kitchen and park set-up is inspected every two weeks. It costs $37 every two weeks for the permit, which comes out of the profits made. Our church bought $2,000 worth of catering equipment which included a freezer to store the food, which did not come out of the profits made. The food must be shopped for, prepared, and served, which is all done by volunteers. A tent is erected, our church tables are set up (as there are not enough picnic tables in the park), and the picnic tables are cleaned of bird soil; all by church volunteers. There is always a chance of bad weather, but even with a tornado warning this past season, the church served the food in its basement. The monies raised (profit) are put into missions. Some of the places receiving aid are OCEF, Baldwin Center, Lighthouse, our youth group (which is open to all youth in the community), our youth group mission trip, hot lunches for children in Haiti, UMCOR which donates money to crisis centers all over the world, etc. Tim Dibble spends every Friday, his only day off through the week, working with BB&E. And he does this on every Friday during the summer. Who is greedy here?
Much as Mr. Bonner would like us to believe, BB&E is not ‘a church event the DDA pays for.? He also states that ‘for any board to be successful and strong they all need to be honest and work hard for the community, not for the benefits of themselves.? Who is honest here? In what way is the OUMC not working hard for the benefit of the community? The BB&E is a huge success compared to when all we had was the Farmers Market to bring people into town.
I am concerned as to why Mr. Bonner is so negative toward my church and minister. I would personally like to thank him for motivating me to write this letter and ‘advertise? my church, the Ortonville United Methodist Church, and what a wonderful asset it is to the community. Perhaps Mr. Bonner could come and join in our fellowship next Sunday. He would find a very warm and welcoming group of people.
Diane Droste
Ortonville