To all the other families out there who are in the process of adopting and don't have the capabilities to write a $25,000 check to complete your adoption, a garages sale/community sale/etc. is 1 of many great ways to help raise awareness and funds for your adoption or someone else's adoption.
If you are thinking and brainstorming ideas of what to do, we thought we'd just share a few things we found helpful in our case.
1. Surround yourself with people who love you, will stay up late with you, get up early with you and blister their feet (literally) with you and for you.
2. Have multiple items to sell. Of course lots of garage sale items, but also sell drinks, freezer jam, donuts, pizza, etc. People like variety.
3. Make clean, clear signs giving good information. I know one thing for sure...whenever I see a yard sale sign I usually can tell from the look of the sign what type of sale it is going to be. If the sign is sloppy and throw together at the last minute, I can almost guarantee that the yard sale will be arranged and ordered in the same manner. Seems like a small thing, but it isn't. Also, make sure the signs are big enough for people to read from 40 feet away.
4. For us, we decided to do a 1 day sale. This had more to do with our location, etc. but it worked out ok for us.
5. Advertise in the appropriate spots. 1) Good signs in a lot of places 2) Craigslist 3) Facebook - make it a noteworthy item for people to talk about and spread 4) Newspaper - people still actually read the newspaper for yard sale information. I made sure I talked with people to see how they heard about our sale and a few of them said the newspaper...so I guess it was worth it.
6. Have a Donation Box.- We had several people put some extra change/bills in there. Our message was being communicated and their hearts were stirred by our story. We don't take any credit for that...it is simply the graciousness of the Lord to provide in this manner.
7. Have a sheet with information about where to send Tax-Deductible Donations.
8. Expect rain - I think it is something the Lord allows to make sure our dependence is on the Lord and not in circumstance & pray that it doesn't
9. Be amazed at how God works.
Thanks for the tips. Can you give logistical info? Where did you get tables? How did you have things set up? Where did you get the trailers from? things like that. thanks! Vikki
ReplyDeleteVikki,
ReplyDeleteSorry it has taken me a bit to respond. My broker at my real estate office let us use the office, tables, etc.
We just set things up in categories (all clothes in one section, all electronics in another...make sure you have a way to plug things in so people can test them.)
Trailers were borrowed from people from our church. We had a full size trailer, and a few pull behind your truck trailers also.
A lot of it depends on your set up for location...that will determine the logistics for your event.
When are you doing your fundraiser?
Dustin