Click the button above to see all of our community coverage, or go straight to your community's homepage with the menu below.

Find your community Bedford County Botetourt County Franklin County New River Valley Roanoke City Roanoke Co. (North) Roanoke Co. (Southwest) Salem & Glenvar Smith Mountain Lake Vinton & E Roanoke Co.

More religion stories

• Poverty fundraising always 'big surprise'
• Creatures comforted at St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church
• Religion calendar
• Fundraiser features something for all
• Marriage for keepsFamily Bible Fellowship

Archive

• Religion index

On May 17 this column asked readers if their churches had any fundraising ideas besides the traditional walk-a-thons and carnivals.

Nothing really new has emerged, but Glenvar Church of God of Prophecy, a Pentecostal congregation in Roanoke County, is trying this wrinkle: employing several of the usual methods all on the same day -- a car wash, sales of hot dogs and homemade desserts, and a yard sale.

"If it rains you can't do the car wash, so you need something else," said Joanne Martin, a church volunteer and supervisor of the event, scheduled for 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. today.

The yard sale is really a sort of makeshift flea market, in which church members, or anyone else, are invited to bring their items and rent space -- the size of a parking space -- outside the church to peddle them. The spaces cost $10 for the day.

The last time Glenvar Church tried the yard sale was in 2006, Martin said, and it rained. "So we rented spaces inside a Sunday school room," she said.

Proceeds will go to summer youth missions and camp fees, among other things.

The church is at 4388 Alleghany Drive, just outside Salem. For more information, call Martin at 389-3673, or the Rev. Steve Russell: 380-3438.

Throwing everything but the kitchen sink into a fundraising event is ambitious, but this column still wants to hear other ideas your church has either tried, or is considering.

And we're wondering: Are there specific fundraising events that you avoid? For example, maybe you're particular about how your car is washed and won't let anyone else do it. And that leads us to ask: Instead of elaborate and labor-intensive efforts such as the one at Glenvar Church, would you rather just be sent or given an envelope asking for a donation?

n n n

Two Roanoke-area churches are joining the national Angel Food Ministries program to sell discounted groceries.

Sovereign Grace Community Church at 7300 Williamson Road in Hollins and Temple Baptist Church, 4339 Daugherty Road in Glenvar are handling sales and pickup of the food.

The program offers, for $30, an order of groceries that Angel Food Ministries said is valued at $50 to $60. The offer is made monthly, and the next deadline to order is on or about July 15 for distribution on July 26. Orders must be placed and paid for at the churches, except for online orders, placed at angelfoodministries.com.

Food stamps can be used in payment.

There are no income requirements or financial qualifications.

The menu of groceries offered changes monthly. Some of the items typically offered in a monthly package are: 1¹₂ pounds of rib-eye steak; 1¹₂ pounds of hamburger patties; 2 pounds of pork riblets; 4 pounds of chicken leg quarters and 2 pounds of breaded chicken tenders.

Angel Food Ministries is a nondenominational, nonprofit organization.

For more information about ordering at Sovereign Grace Community Church, call 366-1000; at Temple Baptist, call 380-3567.

n n n

Many summer camps are already full and the drama camp at Christian Heritage Academy in Rocky Mount for rising kindergartners through 12th-graders from July 21 to 25 could be by the time this appears.

But if so, a second one will be added, the school said.

Cost is $50 if registered by June 27, $60 after that -- for the first session. For more information call 540-483-5855.

You're encouraged to comment about religion-related issues on Roanoke.com's blog version of this column, "Focus on Faith."