The Cottage Ministry will try a new fundraiser.

The nonprofit group's inaugural online auction will run from Monday, Sept. 15, through Friday, Sept. 26. The auction will be conducted on the BiddingOwl platform, which will include photos and descriptions of the items. Go to http://www.millersvillecottage.com for more information.

The Cottage Ministry, co-founded by Diane Duell and Judy Schroeder, helps local families with housing insecurities.

The auction items include a Michael Kors purse; a 3-day, 2-night vacation in a Port Deposit, Md., condo; tickets to Go 'N Bananas Family Fun Center and Sight & Sound; an ice cream adventure at six county creameries; plants; and a bird feeder that was handmade by Wayne Schroeder and decorated by his wife, Judy.

The Cottage Ministry board members Judy and Ed Sykes will welcome the highest bidder and family to their cabin in York County, which overlooks the Susquehanna River. Food will be provided, and guests will be able to use canoes, kayaks, and a sailboat.

"A big thank you to our corporate sponsor, Full Circle Recycling, and our donors, volunteers, and the bidders," Duell said.

The online auction is expected to be The Cottage Ministry's biggest fundraiser of the year. "In previous years, we had a craft and vendor show," said Duell. "There were two co-chairs that ran that beautifully and it always did very well, and the community really came out and loved it. That was run for two or three years, but due to circumstances beyond our control, we couldn't do it this year. We had to pivot, and we had brainstorming sessions at the council, and this was the one that won. We said, 'Let's try an online auction.' I said, 'Lancaster Downtowners has done it, and I thought it worked really well as a user and a bidder. It was easy to use, and you get exciting pictures (online) with descriptions, so people know what they're bidding on."

Duell and Schroeder formed The Cottage Ministry after realizing they had similar aspirations. "In January of 2017, Judy and I felt a calling from God during a sermon by assistant pastor Bruce Heydt at (Millersville Community Church)," Duell said. "He was doing a sermon on a business concept called BHAG, which is 'big, hairy, audacious goals.' He was saying if you just feel you want to do something that's a BHAG, it's probably a calling from God. I had been thinking about it would be really great to win Powerball, get lots of money, and do something for the homeless, but that wasn't working. At the end of that church service, there was a call if anybody wanted to pray to come up to the altar, and I went up to pray about it to see if that really was a BHAG from God."

Schroeder, a lay pastor, joined Duell at the rail, and Duell explained that she felt God calling her to help the homeless. "She interrupted me saying she felt the same way," Duell recalled.

Millersville Community Church provided a helping hand. "Trying to establish a nonprofit can be very expensive, but our church has established other nonprofits in the past and incorporated underneath their 501(c)(3) first, before the groups go off on their own," Duell said. Duell and Schroeder presented their plan to the church council, and The Cottage Ministry became part of the church's ministry.

The Cottage Ministry established a board of directors in 2019. "Initially, our thought was that single women with children would be the biggest need, and that's what our mission was," said Duell. "We quickly learned through discussions with the community itself and also with the (Loft Community Partnership) and talking to some of their clients, that's not necessarily the case."

The Cottage Ministry assists families in the Penn Manor School District. "We help anyone who has a housing need," said Duell. "If they can't make rent that month, we will help with that. Housing in Millersville is very expensive because of supply and demand with the Millerville University students. So our focus lately really has been on keeping people in the homes that they have now. If they call and they say, 'I've lived here five years, I'm in the school district, and I love it,' but something comes up, we step in, and we help in ways that that they need." The Cottage Ministry also provides mentoring and offers help with budgeting. The group gets referrals from case workers in the school district and from other nonprofits such as Loft Community Partnership. Anyone in need of assistance can go to the website.