This is getting exciting! Well, let's be honest, I've been excited for a while, but now it's getting serious. I am $13 dollars away from hitting a major goal. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go back to Saturday....
It was FREEZING. It was May 5th and I swear it felt like January 5th. My parents and I were up till midnight the night before baking gingersnaps, brownies, muffins, rice crispy treats, and chocolate chip cookies, then woke up at the lovely hour of 5:30 am to hang up posters and pull everything out of our garage. The wind was blowing 70mph (OK, for you Wyoming folks where the wind literally blows at 70mph, it wasn't that bad, but it was windy and cold!) It was overcast and I was just sure it was going to rain. But we were not to be deterred! My aunt showed up just before 7:00 with my nieces and little cousin to sell the baked goods, and Aunt Jenny (who, along with her husband, is a champion garage-seller,) went straight to work organizing and sorting.
We set up the front lawn a little like a living room, and had four tables of clothes in the driveway. More tables with Christmas stuff and kitchen stuff, kitchen counters and cabinets and luggage and vacuum cleaners to the side, bikes and baby strollers and car seats in the middle of the driveway just in front of all the toys. A second entertainment set and the washer and dryer in the garage with jackets hanging off the open garage door. My mom sat at the checkout table along with my Ugandan women's jewelry for sale. You getting the picture?
We had a few hard-core garage sale-ers show up at 7:00, though they didn't buy anything. Disappointing. A few more shoppers who started giving me money around 7:30. Better. I figured we'd make at least $100 bucks at this rate. But by 8:00 we were movin' and a-shakin'. Hustlin' and a-bustlin'. Well, actually, I tried really hard not to hustle anyone, but since all of what we had to sell were donations, there were truly a few questions I couldn't answer. Though I'm not much of a garage-sale goer, I felt pretty comfortable haggling with people. Living for a year in a country were there is no set price on anything will do that to you. But my poor mother felt like we were being ripped off anytime anyone wanted a bigger bargain than the one we were offering. But by the end of the day, she was wheelin' and a-dealin' with the best of 'em! (How many more of those idioms can I throw in here?? Rockin' and a-rollin'? Last one, promise.)
The sun finally decided to show its face around 11:30, though it was cold enough that my mom still refused to take off her winter coat and ear warmers. My friend Les had come to help out and play the role of the strapping young man who loaded heavy objects into customer's cars, and he took off at noon because I thought we were done. At 12:30 however, massive amounts of people were still showing up, so I took off to take our apparently very effective posters down. We had to drive to Boise that afternoon for my sister's baby's blessing the next morning, and it was very obvious people weren't done with garage sales when I thought they would be. By 2:00 we were finally moving everything back into our garage, and my oldest brother showed up to help out. He was asking how much I thought I'd made and I told him I figured at least $500, though I was hopeful it was $800.
We hit I-15 North around 2:30 and I finally got a chance to organize the fat wad of cash in our till and start filling the coin rolls with quarters. My mom promptly fell asleep and my dad tuned into his audio book, while I excitedly counted and passed by the $500 dollar mark very quickly. I let out a silent squeal of excitement when the $800 mark came and went and I still had an enourmous amount of $1 bills to get through. Total count?
Drumroll please.....
$1,218.52!!!
I had hoped so hard we'd make $1,000, but with the large load we had to move back into our garage, I just didn't think think we'd sold that much. But we did! We exceeded it! It was such a good feeling! And we seriously have SO much stuff leftover (including the washer and dryer - how did that not sell?) that we're heading to my little brother's house in Provo this Saturday for a second sale.
We only sold ONE piece of my 20 pieces of Ugandan jewelry (to my aunt - thanks Jenny!) so my BF, Sarah, and I are planning to organize an online sale (tune in for more details in the near future!) But, that was still another $15 we raised. Every bit counts.
And lastly, money from the Friends of Friends fundraiser continues to trickle in and we are now at $7,754!!! That is more than I anticipated from only committing 75 people! I have so many amazing friends and family! (Have I said that before? Can I say it enough?)
So, garage sale, jewelry sale, and friends fundraiser, together total $8,987.52! Which means I am $12.48 away from having raised $9,000. Once I reach $9K, I have a donor who has promised to donate $1,000. Wow!! That will put me at $10,000!!! Yippee!! My goal all along has been to raise between $10-$12K. I think I will get $12.48 tomorrow, which means everything from the second garage sale, the jewelry sale, and the remaining friends still getting friends to donate, (have you donated your $10 yet? www.RecyclingForHopeUG.com) will just advance me to that $12,000 goal. AMAZING! I can't believe how fast it has all happened. It's just so exciting!
I've been pricing tickets, and I've applied for my visa, so it looks like I'll be shipping out at the end of this month! Hooray!! I seriously cannot WAIT to get back to Gulu, to start riding my little bicycle around town soliciting recyclers, to start painting recycling boxes with logos, and to get more women employed, provide more girls with educational opportunities, to have more stunning houses built, and to help Ugandans take pride in their beautiful environment! Does that sound idealistic? Incredibly. But I've always thought of myself as a realistic idealist, and I really think it's all gonna happen!
Cheers to everyone who has helped me get this far!!
It was FREEZING. It was May 5th and I swear it felt like January 5th. My parents and I were up till midnight the night before baking gingersnaps, brownies, muffins, rice crispy treats, and chocolate chip cookies, then woke up at the lovely hour of 5:30 am to hang up posters and pull everything out of our garage. The wind was blowing 70mph (OK, for you Wyoming folks where the wind literally blows at 70mph, it wasn't that bad, but it was windy and cold!) It was overcast and I was just sure it was going to rain. But we were not to be deterred! My aunt showed up just before 7:00 with my nieces and little cousin to sell the baked goods, and Aunt Jenny (who, along with her husband, is a champion garage-seller,) went straight to work organizing and sorting.
We set up the front lawn a little like a living room, and had four tables of clothes in the driveway. More tables with Christmas stuff and kitchen stuff, kitchen counters and cabinets and luggage and vacuum cleaners to the side, bikes and baby strollers and car seats in the middle of the driveway just in front of all the toys. A second entertainment set and the washer and dryer in the garage with jackets hanging off the open garage door. My mom sat at the checkout table along with my Ugandan women's jewelry for sale. You getting the picture?
 |
| There's my mom, sporting her Wright Panthers ear warmer. And people with arm-fulls of stuff! |
We had a few hard-core garage sale-ers show up at 7:00, though they didn't buy anything. Disappointing. A few more shoppers who started giving me money around 7:30. Better. I figured we'd make at least $100 bucks at this rate. But by 8:00 we were movin' and a-shakin'. Hustlin' and a-bustlin'. Well, actually, I tried really hard not to hustle anyone, but since all of what we had to sell were donations, there were truly a few questions I couldn't answer. Though I'm not much of a garage-sale goer, I felt pretty comfortable haggling with people. Living for a year in a country were there is no set price on anything will do that to you. But my poor mother felt like we were being ripped off anytime anyone wanted a bigger bargain than the one we were offering. But by the end of the day, she was wheelin' and a-dealin' with the best of 'em! (How many more of those idioms can I throw in here?? Rockin' and a-rollin'? Last one, promise.)
 |
| I truly don't know how all those people are standing around without coats on. But in other news, we had VHS on sale for a buck a piece and tons of them sold! Who knew that many people still use their VCRs!? |
The sun finally decided to show its face around 11:30, though it was cold enough that my mom still refused to take off her winter coat and ear warmers. My friend Les had come to help out and play the role of the strapping young man who loaded heavy objects into customer's cars, and he took off at noon because I thought we were done. At 12:30 however, massive amounts of people were still showing up, so I took off to take our apparently very effective posters down. We had to drive to Boise that afternoon for my sister's baby's blessing the next morning, and it was very obvious people weren't done with garage sales when I thought they would be. By 2:00 we were finally moving everything back into our garage, and my oldest brother showed up to help out. He was asking how much I thought I'd made and I told him I figured at least $500, though I was hopeful it was $800.
We hit I-15 North around 2:30 and I finally got a chance to organize the fat wad of cash in our till and start filling the coin rolls with quarters. My mom promptly fell asleep and my dad tuned into his audio book, while I excitedly counted and passed by the $500 dollar mark very quickly. I let out a silent squeal of excitement when the $800 mark came and went and I still had an enourmous amount of $1 bills to get through. Total count?
Drumroll please.....
$1,218.52!!!
I had hoped so hard we'd make $1,000, but with the large load we had to move back into our garage, I just didn't think think we'd sold that much. But we did! We exceeded it! It was such a good feeling! And we seriously have SO much stuff leftover (including the washer and dryer - how did that not sell?) that we're heading to my little brother's house in Provo this Saturday for a second sale.
We only sold ONE piece of my 20 pieces of Ugandan jewelry (to my aunt - thanks Jenny!) so my BF, Sarah, and I are planning to organize an online sale (tune in for more details in the near future!) But, that was still another $15 we raised. Every bit counts.
And lastly, money from the Friends of Friends fundraiser continues to trickle in and we are now at $7,754!!! That is more than I anticipated from only committing 75 people! I have so many amazing friends and family! (Have I said that before? Can I say it enough?)
So, garage sale, jewelry sale, and friends fundraiser, together total $8,987.52! Which means I am $12.48 away from having raised $9,000. Once I reach $9K, I have a donor who has promised to donate $1,000. Wow!! That will put me at $10,000!!! Yippee!! My goal all along has been to raise between $10-$12K. I think I will get $12.48 tomorrow, which means everything from the second garage sale, the jewelry sale, and the remaining friends still getting friends to donate, (have you donated your $10 yet? www.RecyclingForHopeUG.com) will just advance me to that $12,000 goal. AMAZING! I can't believe how fast it has all happened. It's just so exciting!
I've been pricing tickets, and I've applied for my visa, so it looks like I'll be shipping out at the end of this month! Hooray!! I seriously cannot WAIT to get back to Gulu, to start riding my little bicycle around town soliciting recyclers, to start painting recycling boxes with logos, and to get more women employed, provide more girls with educational opportunities, to have more stunning houses built, and to help Ugandans take pride in their beautiful environment! Does that sound idealistic? Incredibly. But I've always thought of myself as a realistic idealist, and I really think it's all gonna happen!
Cheers to everyone who has helped me get this far!!
Hi Morgan - Justin Z's wife here. Reading this post has made my day (and it's only 8:30am, boo-yeah!) I'm off to donate and to link up to this on facebook. I'm hopeful that I have some friends that will take a minute to donate a few dollars. So excited for you and this program - will definitely be keeping up with this blog. Way to go, and thanks for what you're doing :)
ReplyDeleteWoohoo!!!! So thrilled for you!!! :)
ReplyDeleteSarah Z! So nice to finally meet you! (Erm...exchange words via internet channels?) Hopefully one day we'll be able to do it in person. Thanks for all your interest and support in my project, I have a whole lot of faith in it, so I'm always excited when other people do too :-) Welcome to my blog, glad you plan to stick around!!
ReplyDeleteSarah M - thanks for your love, as usual!