We got back from our campout with our Mid-Florida Winnies on Thursday afternoon and started running (figuratively that is). Between trying to get out all of the Christmas stuff to our children and grandchildren, doing Christmas cards for some of the people in the park, washing clothes, cleaning and emptying the motorhome yet again so it could be in storage, and preparing for our Hillcrest RV Park Park Wide Sale it has been wild. As co-chair I had lots of paperwork to do including making many signs and preparing worker information and sign in sheets. As a resident I had needed to bake several items for the bake sale and package those things in proper amounts (I made chocolate chip cookies with nuts, lemon bars and peppermint meringue kisses).
Friday we took up a car load of items for the yard sale - all things we'd been collecting in various boxes in our shed. WOW - suddenly we have lots of space in there!! Many of our residents also brought their items such that we filled over 40 tables with items for sale. Everything from a sofa to Christmas ornaments and everything else in between. We got it all set up including all the pricing with the help of close to 40 volunteers.
Then today we were at the clubhouse by 7:00 am so as to uncover all the tables, price and place items that were left for us late yesterday and then get to the work of selling. By 10:00 am some of our guys had the grills going with hamburgers and hotdogs on them. Oh the smells, wonderful!!!! This event really brings out the residents as well as many people from the community. It is just an amazing experience to see what we can accomplish. By 1:00 in the afternoon everything was cleaned up, stuff put away and all the leftovers gone (picked up by one of the groups we support as they also do yard sales)
Our final count of the money from the various "departments" was accomplished in the afternoon at Berta Mercer's home. Then it goes right to the bank. We were thrilled to find we'd made just short of $2,600. That should really make a difference in a lot of people's lives once we distribute it. Exciting to think about.
I wrote a newspaper article for our local community paper about the event this afternoon too. (I'll post it at the bottom of this blog)
Several other jobs were completed and I finally got around to packing for our cruise about 10:00 at night. Boy it will feel good to just get on the ship and relax.
Here is the article:
Hillcrest RV Resort Sponsors Yard Sale
to Raise Funds for Missions
Yard sales are held at
Hillcrest RV Resort in Zephyrhills twice during the “season” but with a
twist. While some residents can and do
hold sales at their own places, many donate their items to the very active
mission group at the park, thus helping others with their castoffs.
About ten years ago, resident Berta Mercer (on the right in
the attached photo with her co-chair Carolyn Ledford) suggested to other
members of the mission group she formed back in 2000 that they consider adding
a group sale to their efforts using the
main club house. In the beginning, they
were able to collect and sell about four hundred dollars worth of donated items
and then send that money to various missionaries that Berta had formed
relationships with at her home church in Michigan: a church that puts great
emphasis on supporting missionaries. These people in turn would tell of
specific needs where they were serving.
For example, a missionary serving in Africa saw a need for filters for
wells. He took on the job of teaching
the locals how to build them providing jobs.
When the mission group heard about this they decided to send money
earned in the sale directly to that missionary to purchase the necessary
supplies to create the filters. Using this same method has allowed residents to
directly purchase many goats, giving families in Haiti an animal that could
provide milk. They in turn would give the first off spring of that goat to
another family who could benefit from the ownership.
They have also provided food for a local soup kitchen and
money to help those who were struggling to pay electric bills or a month of
rent. They have also supplied food to
local food banks. By distributing the
money that way, they were able to directly help those who were in great need
rather than going through organizations that used money to not only help others
but pay for business leaders along with offices for them, mailings, and so
forth. They have received many thank you
notes that bring tears to the eyes.
The idea caught on and now the park as a whole really gets
behind the effort and makes a day of it.
For instance, Friday, December 9, 2016, close to fifty volunteers
gathered to set up the clubhouse for the big sale on Saturday, December 10.
They priced items and put them in display order with clothes, linens, Christmas
decorations, and craft items on display inside and set up furniture, household
items from sets of dishes to bathroom scales to golf club bags on the outside
porch. Residents donate baked goods and
others grill hot dogs and hamburgers providing an opportunity for those who
attend to buy, socialize and enjoy a meal.
Then at the end of the sale, leftovers are packed into boxes which are
picked up by a local mission group which adds them to their ongoing yard sales
to raise money and provide structured activity for those they are helping. When the day is done, everything is back in
place. Lots of stories are shared by workers about how they had helped make a
difference in the lives of some of the shoppers who were buying for specific
people and groups they support. Best of all they can then sit down and figure
out who will benefit from the earnings here and abroad. What a wonderful feeling to turn castoffs
into dollars that in turn make a major difference in the lives of others.
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