Church serves as chief sponsor of Keizer's Iris Festival

     KEIZER — One of the larger churches in this Marion County city wanted to get more involved in the community, and it did so in a big way last month.
     Thanks to a gift from an anonymous donor, Dayspring Fellowship served this year as chief sponsor of Keizer’s annual Iris Festival, a longtime community celebration. In addition, the church provided about 225 volunteers —about a third of the church’s regular adult attenders — to help out in the festival’s various venues.
     Each May, in conjunction with the iris peak bloom season, the Keizer Chamber of Commerce and the city government host the monthlong festival, with most activities during the third weekend of the month.
    Jennifer Skipper, the church’s volunteer coordinator for the festival, said the church decided to get involved in the event because it “wants to demonstrate God’s love in a practical way to the community their church calls home.”
    “It is a great opportunity to get outside the four walls of the church and simply serve in tangible ways, the people of our community,” she said, citing the example of service by Jesus described in Matthew 20:28. “It is also an exciting time for our church members to come together and serve as a united body.”
    Skipper said the volunteers’ activities included:
   • greeting at the annual Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast.
   • assisting in all areas of the annual festival Run/Walk event, including giving out water to participants, providing safety monitoring, handling registration and presentation of awards, and more.
   • greeting and handing out exit surveys at the festival’s home and garden show.
   • registration and staging of the floats at the festival’s official parade, as well as safety monitoring and carrying banners.
   • greeting and registration at the golf tournament and cleaning up the luncheon area.
   • greeting, cleaning and servicing at the pancake breakfast.
    • helping set up and tear down festival events and assisting as needed at the festival’s information booth.
     For more information on Dayspring Fellowship, go to www.dayspringfellowship.com.