Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Rummage Sale Friday, Saturday
Friday night's the night for great deals and treasure hunting at the Fall Rummage Pre-Sale at Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church!
About 10,000 square feet of gently used items - everything from frying pans and houseplants, to $50 sleeper sofas, antique fishing poles, office supplies, kids’ toys, books, and so much more - will go on sale when the doors open Friday, Sept. 15, at 6 p.m. The pre-sale runs until 8 p.m. and, as always, all prices are doubled. The sale continues tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 16, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with prices as marked. ORUUC is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.
The lead up to this fall’s sale began last Saturday morning, when church volunteers set out in pick-up trucks, stopping at 19 homes in and around Oak Ridge to load donations of large items - dining room tables and chairs, recliners, chests, patio furniture, bicycles, heavy boxes filled with items to be repurposed. But the anticipation grows months before the sale, with phone calls to the church office. “When’s your next big church sale?” “Have I missed it? The Yard Sale?” “When can I drop off donations?”
This semi-annual sale, hosted by ORUUC for nearly 25 years, has provided a way for people to have access to needed household and personal items - cookware, appliances, linens, clothing, and more - much of it priced at a dollar or less, repurposing it instead of filling up landfills. What remains when the sale ends Saturday is picked up by and donated to about 10 local nonprofit organizations in the area, including Ecumenical Storehouse, the Holiday Bureau, and KARM.
“We have lots of kids’ bikes, some good quality furniture, two women’s clothing rooms, the $5 Boutique, and a table of Asian items donated by the family of Shigeko Uppuluri,” said Amanda Fishel, as she reviewed the highlights of the donations brought in as of Tuesday afternoon. “There’s so much stuff!”
Fishel has been helping with the sales for years. She and fellow ORUUC member Christina Elliott now organize the event, from the furniture pickups the Saturday before the sale through the 11-hour days when shifts of volunteers greet donors, unload, sort, and price items, to the sale itself and after when people of all ages help transform the church back into a place of worship in time for Sunday morning.
“We have at least the same level of donations as the past few sales,” Fishel said Tuesday, after putting out the call for more volunteers to help sort items and set up sale tables.
Proceeds from the sale benefit ORUUC’s community outreach programs, including Stone Soup, a free monthly community meal which is returning to in-person dining on Sept. 29 for its 13th year. The menu will include homemade barbecue and all the fixings, prepared and donated by a generous member of the Oak Ridge community. Fresh Fruit for Kids is another ORUUC program that benefits from the sale, providing fresh fruit to hundreds of young Oak Ridge schoolchildren who receive backpacks of non-perishable foods through Second Harvest Food Bank for afterschool snacks and weekend meals.
ORUUC youth earn summer trip funds by volunteering their time helping during Rummage Week. About 80 volunteers make the Rummage Sale possible from start to finish.
Rachel Smith-Jones is the publicist for the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Rummage Sale Friday, Saturday
