Archive: Around Town

Judy Wilson (top, facing camera) and others are buried in a mountain of clothing, tagging, pricing and sorting

"The First Forty Years" notes that Jeanne Jolly chaired the first twenty Rummage Sales, with the proceeds going into the church's building fund. That first mortgage was paid off in good order, then the proceeds held in reserve until enough was accumulated to build a new parsonage After Jeanne’s husband, Bob, retired from NYSEG, they moved out of state. Since that time, up to three co-chairs at a time have been required to keep the show on the road.

From such a humble, but desperate, beginning, the LUMC Rummage Sales have assumed a great deal of importance on the calendar of this bustling congregation. Anticipation builds for weeks ahead of time and a crowd gathers around to commit to job assignments as soon as the sign up sheets are posted.

Hillis Wilson is one of about a half dozen men sorting and fixing things in the electronics room

It is amazing how quickly church clothes are replaced with sweats as works crews turn out in great numbers right after services on the Sunday before the sale weekend. With a precision that would make a drill team leader envious, tents frames are erected in the parking lot to hold the books and toys, an in-take lane is established, helpers with clipboards check in merchandise, helpers unload and others sort. All this takes place in the parking lot.

Inside the building, only the rooms used as staff offices are sacred. All else becomes part of a shopping complex. Clothes racks are hung from eyebolts in the ceiling of the Fellowship Hall to hold clothing suitable for all ages and tastes. Classroom signs are quickly covered over with their new names as they are converted into "Men's Clothing", "Boy's Clothing", "Electronics", "Glassware" and "Collectibles".

After that comes the hour upon hour of fine sorting required to get every item in its proper niche.

The church kitchen is fully operational during the entire set up and sale, with Chef Karen Veaner and a crew of many providing delicious well balanced meals to the volunteers. Of course, there is plenty of chocolate on the desert menu. That's a given!

Dorothea Schrader in Cafe Rummage

One and all marvel that so much merchandise is donated every year twice a year, year to fill the entire building and parking lot. The sale is so well known that the only description needed in advertising it is that it is a "long running community recycling project"!

Every helper, man, woman or child, has also been known to wonder aloud "Will we ever get this all sorted in time?"

Somehow, with the diligence, sweat and a great deal of manual labor by countless volunteers, it does all come together in time. That time being 8 am Friday October 7 in the parking lot. At 9 am on Friday, the building doors are unlocked for shoppers who may have been waiting since dawn. Saturday 8 am to 1 pm brings even better bargains, when all that can be stuffed into a brown grocery sack can be bought for $1.00.

It's quite a process to witness, or to participate in, and the proceeds from the two rummage sales have grown until they now net in the neighborhood of 10% of LUMC's annual budget. Now, that's quite a nice neighborhood!

Look away for an instant and he has disappeared into the boy's clothing room, the electronics room, or one of the three huge tents that are filled with just about everything you can imagine.

And Ed is the one people ask questions of. A clothes rack is needed in one of the clothing rooms. No problem. "If you can hold out for a few hours we'll have some more racks here." Problem solved.

He is "co-chairing" for the sixth time, making this enormous twice-annual event appear to run seamlessly. While about 200 volunteers rush to sort, tag, price and display tens of thousands of items, Ed makes sure they have what they need, and that the right items go to the right places. And he is the answer man.

"My job is to take all of the obstacles out of the way and let the volunteers just play," he says. "Let them do what they do best and have fun and be joyous and have good relationships with each other, and strengthen themselves. It's a very spiritual thing here. It's very ecumenical. We're all God's children and it's just good stuff. It's good stuff."

The Rummage Sale is a fund raiser for the church, but also allows the congregation to do other good works. For people who can't afford new clothes, "This is a space where they can afford them," says Mr. LaVigne. "We try to keep things at a minimal price so the ones who are forgotten are not forgotten."

After the sale leftover clothes are sent to migrant workers in the King Ferry area and to the Salvation Army. They make baby kits, health kits and school kits from items donated to the sale, and fill tote bags. "Anyone who has a need, we find a way to help them where and when we can. There's no waste."

The church doesn't set monetary goals for the sale, but for the past several years sales have raised between $8000 to $10,000. "We have a lot of people who give a lot of their time and money to this project, and Lansing in general is a very generous community," he says.

It is clear that volunteerism is a spiritual experience for Mr. LaVigne. It's the doing, the helping, the community involvement. "There's good in everything you do here. And the more you work -- it's like layers. It gets better and better and better."

-- Editor