Thursday, April 23, 2009

Not Your Average Garage Sale - But a Fundraiser!


This Saturday, as is the case with many spring Saturdays, is a neighborhood garage sale weekend for River Oaks Subdivision in Brentwood. Yes, this is in our bubble and not my jurisdiction, except that one garage sale of the many is going to donate its proceeds to a fantastic cause - in Africa. I hope you too are inspired by this garage sale and the heart behind the scenes.


A member of Brentwood United Methodist Church adopted a young Zulu boy at the Brentwood Society Worship and Community Center in Tumbleweed, Africa that BUMC partnered to build not long ago. Instead of exchanging gifts with each other, she and her husband decided to send this young boy Christmas presents and he was the happiest boy in town. Then, my BUMC friend heard that none of the other children at this school had received presents. The amazing thing she tells me is that these children were not jealous or spiteful. They patiently watched the boy open each little gift and celebrated with him and for him. The director of the school shared this with my friend and that friend found herself on a new mission.

For the past few weeks, she and her friends have been collecting pencils, hot chocolate packets, marshmallows, and cutting out scarves. In June, winter begins in Africa and she wants them to be ready. This lovely group of ladies has pulled together 50 packets of these items to send to the community center.


Where does the garage sale come in? The proceeds for the sale will cover the cost of shipping these items to Africa. It is indecently expensive to send a package across the oceans. But this will not stop her, as her heart is already there. If you'd like to support this garage sale, look for them on Appamattox Drive in River Oaks. Here is the link to the BUMC website for more info on the Brentwood Society Worship and Community Center. http://www.bumc.net/templates/System/details.asp?id=37358&PID=470537

2 comments:

  1. Greetings all from the yard sale team! Kelly is absolutely correct about the love our congregation has for this mission. We will be sending 150 packets so that each child will have their "own" scarf,etc! Most of these children live in an "informal settlement" which translates to what we would call a dump. And, yet, they smile! The Mom's do their laundry under a falls at Howick, South Africa!
    We will also be selling Gail McDaniel prints of Beatrix Potter's home to benefit Harvest Hands, one of your favorite places in our world!
    So come one, come all---you marathoners are welcome, too!

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  2. It's me Kelly. I just saw a garage sale that was a fundraiser for a family to adopt a child. Wasn't that a great grassroots idea? Friends were also there donating items and helping with the sale. Kuddos!

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