It may have been a hot weekend, with the summer sun beaming down relentlessly, but Lifeline’s huge Garage Sale persevered! Barb Umber – Lifeline Purchasing Agent, and Ann Schaub – Director of Development, headed up the brainstorming and organization needed for this event. Water was kept in a refrigerator for refreshment and Barb Umber enforced a strict rule of drinking the cold water to avoid any health concerns. Braving perspiration and dehydration, many hands were involved in unloading bags of clothes, sorting, folding and stacking on tables for the event that stretched from early Friday morning to Saturday afternoon. Pricing was easy - $5 for as many items as you could stuff in a brown paper grocery bag.

Every table was filled with donated clothing items – thousands of pieces varying in size and style were spread across many tables and down two hallways. Flyers had been handed out, and forwarded through email weeks prior to the sale. About 100 bags were sold on Friday alone, including one customer who bought a grand total of 18 bags! “It was wonderful, absolutely wonderful,” commented Barb about the garage sale results.

Not only were clothes sold, but many pieces were donated to other charities as well; bins of stained clothing – unsuitable for sale – were saved back for a woman who cuts up jeans and other materials and creates blankets out of them, donating the resulting blankets to organizations who are in need. Another pile contained all the stretchy sweatpants and comfortable clothes, saved back for the nursing home. All of the men’s black dress pants and shoes were saved for the boys living at Pierceton Woods Academy (Lifeline’s residential home for boys) as professional attire for the on and off campus jobs many of the boys have. Clothing that had been out on tables but was unsold after the two day sale was donated to the Love Church, an inner-city center dedicated to serving youth.

Even the Riverwood Girls got in on the action! (Riverwood is Lifeline’s residential home for girls.) On Thursday, four girls worked to deliver clothing to the church, set up tables, sort the clothing, and hang signage. On Saturday the girls returned to help sort more clothing and to assist with closing the garage sale and organizing the remaining items to be donated to Love Church.  The girls loved helping with the sale and kept the mood light and cheery as they shopped the sale as a reward for their hard work.

The Riverwood Girls helped organize clothing in bins, preparing them for the next Lifeline Garage Sale on August 13^th and 14^th – mark your calendars!!! The girls who helped at the sale were allowed to pick out one bin full of clothing for their own, personal closets. They were grouped with staff to help them “shop” the garage sale and find additional items that would fit their needs. One Riverwood girl commented, “It was fun! I found a whole pile of clothing while I was sorting and shopping.”

“It was by all measure a good success,” said Barb Umber – who is herself, a garage sale fanatic and would be able to measure such things! It was an event filled with work, fun, and excitement – ending in accomplishment. Nothing was wasted – between sales and donations, Lifeline made the most of what they had been given. LifeWater Church was very friendly and accommodating, willing to house the next garage sale as well – rain or shine we hope to see you there!

Lifeline Garage Sale

at LifeWater Church

Friday, August 13^th 9:00am – 6:00pm & Saturday August 14^th 9:00am - Noon

Thousands of clothing items – stuff a bag for $5