Yard sale helps Red Cross meet increased needs of region

The Coastal Carolina Chapter of the American Red Cross sold linens, clothing, sporting equipment, TVs and other secondhand items at a yard sale on Saturday to raise extra money to help pay for the costs of helping people in a four-county area.

As part of a national trend during the recession, the chapter has seen a decline in funding support, director Carol Hardy said. The chapter serves Craven, Carteret, Jones and Pamlico counties, providing disaster relief, disaster or emergency response training and preparation, and other services.

The Red Cross also connects overseas military personnel with their families when there is a death, illness, or good news to share in a family, and Hardy said the Coastal Carolina Chapter handled about 800 communications last year to families needing to connect with a service member.

Robert Toler, the chapter’s emergency services director, said the organization responds to families’ needs after a fire damages or destroys a family’s home and belongings. He said there have been five fires in the last five weeks throughout three of the counties in the chapter’s service area, and the chapter spent $3,000 helping the families that those fires affected.

“We provide food, clothing and shelter to disaster victims — that’s our main purpose,” he said.

The chapter is funded by grants from The Harold H. Bate Foundation and the United Way of Coastal Carolina, as well as by individual supporters and donations, Hardy said.

The United Way is a significant financial supporter, Hardy said, and the nonprofit had to cut funding to each of its partner agencies by 25 percent in fiscal year 2010, which started July 1.

“This is a function of the economy, with so many people laid off,” she said. “As the need increases, the ability to donate is decreasing.”

In response, the chapter has organized fundraisers, including the yard sale and a recent sale where 900 barbecue plates were sold.

Toler, who organized the yard sale, said he asked the chapter’s volunteers to bring in items. The volunteers sent e-mails and called friends and family members to collect donations, which included golf clubs, furniture, holiday decorations and clothing.

Volunteers arrived at 4:30 a.m. Saturday to set up at the chapter’s offices at 1916 Glenburnie Road, and then they ran the sale from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Some people were waiting before it opened, Hardy said, estimating that about 350 people had come by between the opening and about 10:30 a.m.

Winterville resident Kimber Seachris was in town Saturday visiting a friend. Seachris said she stopped at several yard sales between Winterville and New Bern, and she said she is a “yard sale queen.”

“Other people pay the full price for the most expensive items, but when you go to a yard sale, you get one-fourth off that,” she said, explaining that she often finds new items, with the original price tags, at reduced prices.

Seachris said she has located yard sales by searching newspapers or reading fliers, and she has used MapQuest the night before to determine her yard sale route for the next day.

“I’m a serious yard-saler,” she said.

The remaining items that were not sold on Saturday were donated to the Interfaith Refugee Ministry and to The Salvation Army.

“It’s collaboration, it’s sharing, it’s working with people,” Hardy said.

Laura Oleniacz can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at loleniacz@freedomenc.com.