By Rebekah Martin
Associate Editor
Power of the Purse is a collaborative effort with two goals: raise money for an Opelika-based community outreach program called ACTS and help homemakers and craftsmen with promoting their products and goods.
The flea-market style fundraiser will be held Nov. 18 from 9 a.m. -3 p.m. at Collaboration Station in downtown Opelika. Vendors selling fine art, jewelry, dolls, crafts, clothing, books, pottery and more are welcome to participate. The funds raised will benefit Opelika’s Acts Community Outreach, founded by Valarie Canady. Started in 2010, the outreach program has a goal of positively impacting those in the community one child and one family at a time.
Power of the Purse is open to the public and the vendor fee is simply a purse filled with goodies that will be auctioned off every 30 minutes throughout the day. Only 30 8×8 spots are available and vendors supply their own tables. Collaboration Station is located at 216 S. 8th Street.
Canady said the first event last month raised a significant amount of money for ACTS. According to Canady, there are nearly 80 children who live in Pinehurst Villa, a community located off West Point Parkway, and more than 50 percent of those children are in some way involved in ACTS.
The outreach program hosts a number of activities for children in the community including slumber parties, bible camps and after-school programs. Two more community groups have started because of ACTS. Savin Me 4 Him is a group that started from Canady’s mission and now operates on three college campuses advocating for the abstinence from sex, drugs and alcohol. Beautiful Beginnings is a group that focuses on positively impacting the lives of children from fourth to eighth grade.
The program was named after Acts 26:18, which reads: “To open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.”