By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
It’s like a buffet for bargain hunters. Row after row of items shoppers don’t even realize they need until their eyes land on that irresistible lava lamp, canning jars, and figurines of pirates and clowns.
The 30th annual Wood County Humane Society Benefit Garage Sale stretches over 22,000 square feet of clearance paradise in the grandstand and Home & Garden buildings at the Wood County Fairgrounds in Bowling Green.
There are aquariums and bird cages, hair curlers and hair straighteners, bikes and wheelchairs, coffee makers and George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machines. There are litter boxes – and for one lucky cat preferring privacy, an entire “litter room.”
For active shoppers, there are skateboards, golf clubs, yoga mats and dartboards. And for those less active, there are boxes of hand-me-down trophies – for people seeking the glory without the sweat.
The sale opened on Thursday, and will continue Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
But the work began long before the shoppers started swarming the selections. Days before, hundreds of long tables were set up, trunks full of donations were unloaded, and items were sorted accordingly.
“We’re a pretty well-oiled machine,” said Joe Schroeder, chairman of the annual garage sale to benefit the humane society.
A big part of that machine every year are boys from the Juvenile Residential Center of Northwest Ohio, located in Bowling Green. As the average age of the sale volunteers inches up, Schroeder said the teens provide some much needed muscle to get the sale started and to take it down when it’s over.
“We’re getting to the point it would be difficult to do this without them,” Schroeder said.
On Wednesday, the boys were back on the job, with a less physically demanding assignment – but one they weren’t accustomed to. Under supervision of JRC staff, the teens were sorting donated womens tops.
Christy Spontelli, education coordinator at JRC, explained the task of arranging the clothing on racks according to size, then dividing them into sections for sleeveless, short sleeved, three-quarter length sleeves and long sleeves. Occasionally one of the teens would hold up a shirt to get confirmation on the sleeve length.
All the boys at the JRC have been referred there through juvenile courts for felony offenses. The boys come to the Wood County facility from all over the state. Getting to help at the annual garage sale is considered a treat.
“They get out and they like that,” Spontelli said.
Montana Crawford, director of the JRC, said doing volunteer work helps the boys learn about caring for others and their communities.
“It helps as we’re trying to get them to understand about helping people,” Crawford said.
A 17-year-old from Putnam County said he had never seen a garage sale of this magnitude. And after four months in JRC, it was a welcome change to help out.
“It’s a good day, helping the community – I do like it,” he said. He did admit that the clothes sorting assignment was a little more complicated than setting up tables and unloading donated items from trunks.
“I didn’t know there were so many different categories of clothes,” he said.
“It’s nice to see people donating to the community. And they will be coming back to buy more stuff,” he predicted.
Another teen said he was surprised at the number of “peculiar items” that people had donated to the sale. “But I guess there’s always someone out there who wants something. And I know it’s for a good cause.”
The 17-year-old from Findlay said he is set to leave the JRC next week after being there one year and four months.
“I’m amazed by all the donations and the willingness people have to give. It’s helping people less fortunate,” he said.`
And another 17-year-old from Wayne County, who has been at the JRC for about eight months, said it reminded him of helping his grandma when she used to go to Salvation Army to give and to buy. “She did a little of both.”
“Of course it’s a bonus to get out of the facility,” he said. “And we’re helping people and helping a good cause.”
