An Inspiring Note from Ginny and Bob Atwell, Co-Chair of the Fall Fling

As you know, all the money we raise through the yard sale goes to fund our Outreach progarms.  Your Outreach Committee reports on their use of those donations every year.

Once the yard sale is over and the outreach money has been counted, what happens to everything that is left over?  Does it get thrown out or go to waste?

No, your donations continue to make a positive impact in our community.  We sell as many leftover items as we can to various dealers or estate sale shops.  The additional money we raise gets added to our outreach funds.

In addition, the following donations are made:

• Bicycles are donated to Mr. Lewis Days "Mr. Bike" on Fay Street in Durham.  Mr Days is in his late 70's and lives on Social Security.  Every year Mr. Days refurbishes hundred of bikes and donates them at Christmas to underpriviledged children here in Durham.  His bike ministry has been featured on "Good Morning America". 
• Our Mission team selects age-appropriate books, toys and some suitcases to take to Belize.  The books go into Holy Cross Anglican School's library.  The toys are used for prizes in the Valentine's Day fund raiser run by the school each year.  The suitcases are used to carry our donated supplies to Belize and then the suitcases are resold by the school to raise funds.  Funds raised by these sales are often used to provide the students with lunch, the only nutritious meal they will have that day.  Did you know that the resident's of San Mateo sometimes use our suitcases as baby beds?
• Books are donated to the Durham Public Library.  They resell the books to raise funds for various library programs and also ship some books to areas of the country/world that need reading materials.
• The Vets from Maple Court select household items to furnish their apartments.  These veterans, in turn, must perform community services in return for their ability to reside in Maple Court.
• The remaining items are donated to area thrift stores.  The past few years they have gone to the Salvation Army.  The Salvation Army sells these items to raise funds for its work.  For example, during this year's tornadoes and hurricanes, the Salvation Army donated free clothing and household goods to the hundreds of families that had lost or damaged homes.  They also ran feeding programs for the thousands of people who were impacted by the storms.

So you may think of your donations as simply something that helps St. Luke's.  But your items have a much more far reaching impact.

Thanks to all of you that have made this year's Yard Sale one of our best ever.  Your donations of Treasure, Time and Talent have made a difference in Durham and beyond.    ---- Bob and Ginny