Shoppers are able to “purchase with purpose” this weekend at A New Thing fall marketplace. Profits made from handmade, repurposed and up-cycled items will be used to alleviate financial burdens on adoptive families, local ministries that work with the impoverished and other nonprofits that care for orphans and work toward social justice.
Marcie Autry, event coordinator, began researching and inviting vendors in early spring. In September, she began spotlighting confirmed vendors on the blog and printing promotional pieces. Volunteers were also organized to help with various aspects of the event.
As the second annual marketplace came together, several new vendors were added to the list. Local businesses ComeUnity Café, Pour Me Some Juice and Indigenous Outreach International Ethiopian coffee also joined A New Thing to provide refreshments.
Nonprofit organizations from the community that work with children will also be featured in addition to more than a dozen vendors selling original merchandise.
Sierra Owens-Hughes, senior art major, will also be selling her handmade pottery.
“We want the items that are sold to be physical representations of what our God does: makes things new,” Autry said.
Other featured vendors will include Made on Acorn Hill, Inkwell’s Press, High Cotton Co., Garner Blue, The Restored Attic, BBQ & Bowties, Noonday Collection and more.
Courtney Searcy, May 2014 graduate, was unsure of what she wanted to do after graduating until Autry approached her with a vision for a new social enterprise that would train Ethiopian women to make a line of handmade paper goods that would connect women around the world.
“I thought this was really interesting, because it combined all of the things I cared about and was trying to figure out,” Searcy said. “I love design and making cards and things for people to enjoy, but I also want those things to be a part of a bigger story than just selling nice looking things.”
Deciding to stay in Jackson, Searcy contacted Claudia Lee, a handmade paper artist, and spent about two weeks this summer learning how to make paper. She then was able to teach Autry the process, and the two have been making paper together for the last month.
“The paper has a lot of texture and character, so the design doesn’t have to be too complicated,” Searcy said. “It’s also pretty opposite of how I usually design cards, which is drawing an illustration and then printing it on some store bought paper. [Now] I’m hand painting each one…each piece has a lot more invested into it this way.”
The marketplace will be the debut of Fig Paper Co. and will also serve as a way to fund startup costs of the business. A portion of the money that is spent at the marketplace will eventually contribute to women in Ethiopia being able to support their families through paper making, Searcy said.
In addition to this ministry, a number of other local nonprofit organizations and international charities will benefit from the marketplace, including The Raining Season’s Help Stop Ebola Now campaign, No. 41, Ekata Designs and the child sponsorship program True Light Childcare Project.
“We hope people will come and hear stories and then go out and share those stories,” Autry said. “Sometimes seeing others walking in their purpose helps us to uncover our own.”
As for the future of A New Thing, Autry said she does not have any major plans at this time. She would be “perfectly fine” just maintaining the small community gathering every October.
“What drives [Autry] is knowing that the marketplace serves a greater purpose than just a place to buy some Christmas gifts, and that it will have a real impact on bettering so many lives,” Searcy said. “I’m excited that the marketplace will impact communities in Jackson and around the world on so many levels.”
The fall marketplace will be held this weekend at City Fellowship Baptist Church in Jackson (209 E. Lafayette Street). There will be a preview sale on Oct. 25 from 6 to 9 p.m., and tickets are $10. General admission will cost $2 on Oct. 26 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
