By Paula Pyzik Scott

This weekend, Et Cetera Inc., the parent organization of Book Reviews, Et Cetera Thrift Shop, and supporter of Bluffton Ten Thousand Villages, is hosting one of several 50th anniversary celebrations. At 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 10, the non-profit will present “Celebrating Fifty Years of Fashion” at the Bluffton Middle school Cafetorium.

Tickets for the fashion show, which will include a silent auction of purses and refreshments, have sold out and the program will be recorded.

There will also be a June Garden Walk, October MCC Comforter Bash in Pandora, and a December Bluffton Family YMCA program themed “Redo, Renew, Repurpose” (Details below.)

The Facebook page “Yearlong 50th anniversary celebration of Et Cetera Inc.” has details regarding scheduled events, media coverage and ways the three shops are recognizing the anniversary.

Et Cetera Inc. has also created a webpage HERE to provide a detailed history of the shops and the work of board members, managers and volunteers.

It is the volunteers, who currently number some 150, who are described as the backbone of the organization. There are only a handful of employees in the three operations. Other aspects of Et Cetera Inc., such as whether gifts or thrift make more money, have varied over the years. Key points in the history of Et Cetera Inc.:

1946 Mennonite businesswoman Edna Ruth Byler sells needlework by Puerto Rican women to U.S.  friends, sending profits back to the sewing group.

1962 The MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) adopts this work as the Overseas Needlework and Crafts Project. 

1974 Lois Kreider and members of Bluffton First Mennonite open the first Fair Trade store in the country, calling it Self Help Crafts. They open a thrift store to raise money to buy the inventory. That first year, some 100 volunteers support the shop, which had an income of almost $30,000.

1996 Self Help Crafts is renamed Ten Thousand Villages.

2000 Ten Thousand Villages becomes an independent nonprofit.

2002 Walt and Ruth Unrau open Book ReViews, Et Cetera  pledging to donate at least $500 per month.

2005 Et Cetera Shop Inc marks $1M in donations sent to Mennonite Central Committee.

2007 Book ReViews moves from 115 N. Main to 123 S. Main St.

2008 Volunteers provide Et Cetera Shop and Ten Thousand Villages with a facelift.

2014 Et Cetera Inc. officially takes ownership of Book ReViews.

2018 The Peerless Glove Factory, 327 N. Main, is purchased to be the future location of Et Cetera Thrift Shop.

2019 Et Cetera shop reopens in its new location in September, doubling retail and sorting space.

ANNIVERSARY EVENTS

June Garden walk, June 29 and 30, 1-5 p.m. each day, Cost for event, $5 per person, Activities at sites, TTV artisans’ stories, Trunk sale - Garden items from Ten Thousand Villages, Et Cetera, and Book Reviews, MCC stories, 2-4 p.m. at one site, Tentative, donations sales of puzzles, books and gardening tools

August Customer appreciation day

October MCC Comforter Bash, Arthur/Lugibihl Center in Pandora, Snacks and lunch served, Soup, Women’s Bean Project soup, TTV Coffee, Trunk sale of items from all stores, Quilting books from Book Reviews, Fabric/notions from Et Cetera Shop, Items from TTV

November Float, Blaze of Lights, Bluffton

December Thursday, December 12, Community worship service, 7 p.m., First Mennonite Church, Celebration of Thanksgiving, Saturday, Dec. 14 Redo, Renew, Repurpose, 1-5 p.m. BFR lobby, Leading up to the event, children in the BFR afterschool and Saturday programs will create items with repurposed materials., During the event, children’s projects will be displayed, People who do repurposing projects are invited to display their works, Display will be limited to a card-table sized display area, Trunk sale with items from Ten Thousand Villages made from repurposed materials will be displayed and for sale.