Whale of a Sale

Part of Junior League's mission to help the community includes a yearly 'Whale of a Sale' Rummage Sale.  This is a huge event held at the local Sportscenter.  In an effort to make this event as successful as possible, members are required to contribute a number of things, including $150 worth of items (adult clothing can only contribute $50 towards this amount), a new toy, a bakery item, 4 hours towards set-up, and 4 hours the day of the sale.  Members are assigned a department to make sure there is always someone nearby to be available to the shoppers!

In honest, I don't look forward to this event.  Set-up or 'pre-sale' hours are spent hanging up clothes (don't I do that enough at home?), unloading boxes (aren't there some strong men somewhere to do this?), collecting donations (this year I carried a desk down a flight of steps), and going through donations that may or may not be sanitary.  Looking ahead to the event, I think of the rude old women who treat me like a small, dumb child, the hours on my feet on a concrete floor, the alarm clock set an hour BEFORE I would wake up for work during the week, and a "wasted" Saturday.

But when the day of the sale comes....I'm ready to go.  After a quick stop at Starbucks and a doughnut, I manned my station.  I love those first few moments when the crowd comes rushing in after standing in line in the cold and wind for an hour in an effort to find the best deals before anyone else does.  It might be the best part of the day. Almost. The mom who got a Wal-mart bag of baby clothes for $5 might be better.  Or the 7 year old boy who asked mom for a pair of shoes he found that he claimed would be perfect for church. Or the grandma who bought 108 (no joke) aprons to embroider for Christmas gifts.

Actually, as great as those moments were they weren't quite my favorite. When it was all said and done, my favorite part was the end.  NOT for the reasons you think! Not because I was glad it was over, but because when it ended, 4-5 charities arrived to take the remainder of the items.  A local company donates a tremendous amount of brand new clothing, and as much as I would prefer that Junior League make money to go towards the community, I'm glad that those items are not tossed out.  It was cool watching the charities pack out items and look so grateful.  We were even lucky to have men from the local Regional Recovery group to help get everything out (God Bless them, I was worn out at that point!).

So as much as I don't actually look forward to the event, I do enjoy myself the day of.  Now, whether anyone enjoys my company that early in the morning is a different story...