Basket Making Masters Ready for Annual Holiday Bidding, Fundraising
Gift baskets overflow in Ellie Yelle’s house, threatening to consume spare corners.
“Right now, I have 20 baskets and we juggle them around when we need the space,” the Cocoa Beach resident said.
Baskets currently stored in the dining room must be moved to the laundry room when guests visit for dinner and the laundry room baskets must be relocated to the dining room come time for laundry. The baskets continue arriving weekly, taking over the guest bedroom and other parts of the house. This overabundance would turn many a homeowner into a basket case, but Yelle does not mind, because ultimately the baskets will be helping many people in Brevard.
As chair of the Outreach Ministry at St. David’s by the Sea Episcopal Church in Cocoa Beach, Yelle’s duties include housing the cornucopia of gift baskets annually auctioned to raise funds for Space Coast charities.
“We have a total of 210 items this year, and expect the event to be very successful,” said Outreach Ministry member Jeanne Weaver, who not only fills a basket for auction, but also routinely purchases some for her family’s Thanksgiving reunion in Virginia.
Weaver will again stock up on baskets at this year’s Bid or Buy Auction, which will be held over two days. She and other shoppers can opt to enjoy a glass of wine while shopping at St. David’s By-the-Sea from 3 to 6 p.m., Friday, Nov. 3, or go for coffee, cold drinks or a snack from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 4.
Since its inception in 2011, St. David’s annual Bid or Buy Auction has raised an annual average of more than $25,000 in proceeds — welcome infusions to beneficiaries such as The Children’s Hunger Project, Second Harvest Food Bank, Neighbor Up Brevard’s DOCK after-school program, Central Brevard Sharing Center and more.
The total is even more awe-inspiring when considering that the Cocoa Beach church has a modest congregation. The word is out about the baskets and the community embraces the opportunity.
“We depend on the public to come in for these baskets,” Weaver said. “We have become experts at creating baskets filled with things people wish to have before the holidays.”
Work on the baskets begins six months before the event. These are not your typical gift baskets, either. Weaver, an artist, this year created one brimming with art supplies any artist — budding or expert — will appreciate. Another year, she fashioned a Christmas paper basket filled with handmade paper and Christmas cards of her paintings.
The baskets are often compiled around specific themes of interest to the creators.
“A native Australian who is a member of our parish always donates Australian wines to make up a basket,” Weaver said.
“Another parishioner always puts together an authentic “Swedish Basket.”
Baskets for babies, basket for beach babies and their beach mamas, baskets for teens, baskets for pets, baskets for chocoholics, baskets for gardeners, baskets for Disneyphiles, baskets with glittery jewelry” — the subject fodder for prospective baskets is endless.
In the case of the St. David’s baskets, everyone wins. Charities receive much appreciated funds, buyers find unique holiday gifts without rushing from store to store or poring the internet, and parishioners channel their creative basket maker for the good of their community.
“Joy and fun are all part of making up each one of these baskets,” Weaver said.
Connect
For more information, visit stdavidsbythesea.org/baskets or call 321-783-2554.
Come Bid for Baskets
St. David’s By-the-Sea
600 4th St. South, Cocoa Beach
Friday, Nov. 3, 3-6 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 4, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 5, 1-3 p.m.
Map It
