It’s a time of anticipation and some delight as donations come in to Prospect Presbyterian Church for the upcoming rummage sale that kicks off August 23.
Rummage Sale Days will be Sunday, Aug. 23, 1-4 p.m.; Saturday, Aug. 29, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Saturday, Sept. 12, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
A book of poetry a buyer may have longed to find again. A lovely sheath dress to wear at a late summer party. Two unique Mid Century Modern barrel back club chairs in original plush velvet fabric.
Old and new friendships are in play as church volunteers spend two evenings a week and Saturday mornings sorting through thousands of donated items.
And most encouraging, there is the money that will be raised by this labor intensive effort, perhaps the major motivation that has kept the Prospect Presbyterian Women’s Annual Rummage Sale going for 37 years.
Last year it was $13,000, all of which except for minimum costs of the sale itself, went to community nonprofits, especially those helping women, children and families.
Sunday, Aug. 2 is the cut-off time to donate furniture, fine collectibles, housewares, linens, appliances, tools, luggage, bicycles, toys and games, clothing (on hangers) baby equipment, to name a few categories. Donations will be accepted at the church at 646 Prospect St. any morning between 9:30 and 11:30 and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings between 7 and 9 p.m.
“It’s a big recycling effort,” says church member Caroline Farnsworth. “It’s green. People can declutter. The sale provides items to families, to young couples, for things they need at low cost. A college student may need dishes. They’re all delighted to have these things.”
Prospect Church friends Lurlee Shutkin and Joady Anderson
“People are providing these items and the by-product is raising significant funds, serious money, for charities that serve mostly women and children,” Farnsworth said.
One donor, Maplewood resident Jane Cates, showed up July 23 rolling a rather solid computer desk down Tuscan Road from her home several blocks away. Just by chance, young Michael D’Eletto and his dad, Tom, of Maplewood, happened by the church that evening looking for where a Boy Scout meeting might be held, and helped get the desk down the stairs to Prospect’s basement where Sunday School rooms are on their summer break and the entire floor has become a rummage department store
Just a sampling of items so far include an Asian urn, American Girl dolls, Waterford Robert Mondavi Pinot Noir wine glasses, poetry classics, vintage Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books, a Victorian dollhouse, children’s clothing and Halloween costumes, a teepee tent, six bicycles, and a World War II sailor suit.
Photographs of selected merchandise, some yet to be priced but open to offers, are available now on a virtual rummage site created by Sally Chew.
The Prospect rummage cohorts say it is the fund raising for mission, the process of creating a rummage sale that recycles items to people who need or want them and their bonding that brings them back each year.
“It’s very creative,” says Pat Bullock, in charge of operations. “You get to move things around and learn how to display and sell merchandise.”
Pat Bullock, operation manager, Prospect Church Rummage Sale
Joady Anderson and Lurlee Shutkin became fast friends working in the Tiffany Boutique where items often have a higher value . Connie Guida, who once sold a colleague’s good dress by accident, oversees fine jewelry.
Anderson said the churchwide effort raises money above and beyond Prospect’s regular mission budget line item and is deeply rooted in the evolution of Prospect’s Presbyterian Women.
Karen Freeman-Pettis and Jacqueline Hume run the Fashion Boutique and Charles Christian, who joined Prospect after the historic First Presbyterian Church of Orange closed in 2010, is in charge of men’s clothing.
Connie Cosgrove, the group’s treasurer, has the responsibility to line up the 35 to 40 people to staff the sale over three days and then when it ends, getting what is not sold to agencies and thrift shops to continue the recycling effort.
“The end result is there’s a lot of work and there’s good fellowship,” Cosgrove said. “Would I have known Pat Bullock otherwise,’’she asked, looking over at the operations manager a short distance away. “Probably not.’’
For additional information, call 973 763 2090 or visit www.prospectchurch.org.
