8/13/2007 4:00:00 PM Rummage sale with departments
Wayzata Community Church
What: About 18 departments of goods for sale, with most of the money raised going to nonprofits.
When: Wednesday, Aug. 15, 9 a.m.-8 p.m.; Thursday, Aug. 16, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
Where: 125 E. Wayzata Blvd., Wayzata, 55391.
By Kelly Westhoff
It takes time, patience and determination to pull off a successful rummage sale.
Dena Naylor should know. For the past 15 years, she's been in charge of the Wayzata Community Church's annual rummage sale.
The sale celebrates its 86th consecutive year this week.
It is a fund-raising event for the Women's Fellowship and Ministries, one of the church's many organizations. Last year the sale raised $163,000.
Naylor said she hopes this year's event will pull in even more dough. Yet only a small portion of the profited funds will find their way back to the church.
"We do tithe 10 percent back to the church," Naylor explained. "We do take up a tremendous amount of its space and there is considerable wear and tear on the building." However, the rest of the money, the other 90 percent, is given away.
A formal grant process is used to determined where the money goes.
Local, state, national and even international organizations submit grant proposals due on Oct. 1 each year. Grants funded by this year's sale won't be awarded until the start of 2008.
"We get so many applications," Naylor said. "It takes until the end of November, sometimes even into December, to read them all."
Once the proposals have been read, the process of divvying up the rummage sale's profits can begin.
Last year, over 56 nonprofit organizations benefited from the sale.
So many various organizations have received money from the sale that Naylor is at a loss to list them all.
One that really sticks out in her head was a grant awarded to Helping Paws, a Hopkins-based organization that provides trained, canine companions to people with disabilities.
"There is a local girl who received a dog as part of our gift," Naylor said. "Every year she comes to the sale and she brings her dog. She's a teenager now, she comes with her mom and it's really fun to see her and the dog year after year."
Beyond monetary gifts, the Women's Fellowship and Ministries also donate goods. "We give a lot of merchandise away," Naylor said. "Some organizations get money and some get goods. It depends on their needs and what they are looking for. We do give some groups first dibs before the sale."
Where do all the goods come from anyway?
They are donated by the greater community. Collection begins June 1. "July 23 was the last drop off day," Naylor said, "I have to make sure we have time to sort through it all."
This year's collection brought in an incredible assortment of goods.
A complete 40-gallon salt-water aquarium system is for sale. Naylor also noted there are a number of very nice bikes, along with designer hand bags, clothes, furniture, outdoor toys and even 14-carat gold jewelry.
"We've seen it all," she said. "I've been doing this long enough that I'm no longer surprised when we get really nice things. For the most part, we tend to be an upper-end sale," Naylor said. "What's astounding is the trash people give us to sell."
"We have to pay to haul stuff away," Naylor explained. "It's $450 for a dumpster. It costs $15 to get rid of a broken microwave or TV."
Naylor and her volunteer staff sort through every donated item to check its quality. Plenty of items never see the sales floor.
The items that do make it to the sales floor are categorized much like a department store.
"We have about 15 departments," Naylor explained, including women's clothes, children's clothes, toddler toys, hardware, gardening equipment and more.
"I forgot luggage and baskets," Naylor added. "Oh, I probably forgot more. I suppose we have more like 18 departments."
The sale sprawls throughout the church, taking up nearly all available space, except the sanctuary. Goods even spill out across the lawn.
It took an army of roughly 550 volunteers, including children, to put the sale together this year.
Volunteers come from the church's membership ranks, but also from the community at large.
In fact, most volunteers return year after year - even Naylor. "I've been volunteering at the sale since I was a teenager," she said. "I helped in my grandma's department, which was linens. I did all the lifting."
Many of parents bring their children along to volunteer.
"The children are considered full-fledged volunteers," Naylor said. "They are here learning how to do service and give service."
"The kids have a great time," she continued. "They make friends and they really mature when given responsibility. We give them expectations and they rise to meet them."
Children as young as five are put to work sorting paper and plastic bags, hangers and pairing socks.
Older students sort items and help with distribution. Some teens even volunteer to co-chair departments.
For example, some middle school girls helped chair the teen clothing department.
Naylor's volunteer role has progressed from her days under her grandma's charge. Now she runs the entire show, which is a year-long job, she confessed.
"I've been able to come full circle and that is very satisfying," she said.
Naylor is also satisfied to know that she is helping others.
Each year, the rummage sale pairs with a social service agency that has clients in need of life and job skill training. This year, the rummage sale partnered with the Salvation Army to give community service hours to those in a chemical dependency program.
Naylor works closely with these program participants. She holds intake and exit interviews with each and gives them performance reviews.
"What they are getting from me is a reference," Naylor said. "I watch to see if they can follow instructions, stay on task and take initiative. I let them know if they have appropriate attire and attitude."
After she works so hard to get the sale up and running, does Naylor ever take a spin through the aisles for some choice goods? "I don't buy," she said. "Most of our volunteers are small shoppers. We're here to give service, for outreach. Our service is to provide goods to people who need the discount. We try to keep ourselves about that."
