Student's Fund of Hope to Host Garage Sale Fundraiser Saturday

The Student’s Fund of Hope is currently accepting donations for its first-ever Student’s Fund of Hope Fundraiser Garage Sale from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Hauser Field House, located at 9273 N. State Road 9.

Whitney Budd, co-founder of the Student’s Fund of Hope, says this inaugural event is a great opportunity to help out and rid your space of unused and unwanted items.

“It is right here at the spring cleaning time and people can go through stuff,” Budd says. “I think it is a nice offering to the community itself.”

Items that are not sold at the sale will be picked up by Sans Souci and given right back to the community for those who need them, Budd adds.

Student’s Fund co-founder Stephanie Long says she is gathering a lot of items to donate as she and her family are in the process of cleaning out their space in preparation to move.

“The sale is a great opportunity for people who have a handful of things that isn’t enough for their own garage sale, but that they want to donate and get rid of,” Long says. “Bring it on, we will take it and sell it.”

Budd and Long agree that functional items, such as baby items, tools, household goods and furniture, are usually among the most sought after. Budd notes that items that are typically an expense for families, even when found second-hand, are always helpful.

“In our community, things like dressers, bed frames, gently used mattresses are things you can’t really go to Goodwill or San Souci and pick up,” Long adds.

Budd credits Jeremy Pitman, co-owner of Stow-N-Go Storage located at the corner of State Highways 9 and 46, with helping make the event possible. Previously, the Student’s Fund had reached out to Pitman about finding storage for a family that was in transition of finding permanent housing and needed some temporary space to store items.

“He had offered a storage building to us for a very reduced price,” Budd explains. “After explaining we had no storage space for the fund, he said, ‘How about we do this for a year and we will go back and see if it is something you still need.’ That was a huge blessing to be offered that from them because had we not we couldn’t have done it.”

When reached for comment, Pitman expressed his appreciation for all the work the Student’s Fund does in helping the Hope community, as well as his company’s commitment to offering assistance.

“They do a lot for the community, so we are trying to help them out,” he says.

Pitman adds his company is “absolutely on board” with continuing to offer the Fund storage space moving forward.

Those who attend Saturday’s sale at the Hauser Field House can expect it to flow just like a regular garage sale, Budd says.

“They come in and pick up what they want, make us an offer and walk away,” Budd says. “All the money raised from it will go directly back to the fund.”

In addition to cash payments, the Fund can also process sales via Venmo, Budd says.

“If people want to meet us to drop things off, they can contact us via Facebook,” Budd says. “We will set up a time to meet them at the storage building.”

** Individuals who would like to volunteer their time to help set up for the sale (and have the chance to shop early!) beginning at 6 p.m. this Friday are encouraged to reach out to Whitney Budd at 812-350-2526.