- Annual Garage Sale -

For Donations call our answering machine at: 678-4105

LIONS GARAGE SALE INFORMATION 

The major source of recurring income for the Coupeville Lions Foundation is derived from the annual “Garage Sale”. Income from this sale helps support a wide variety of local services including Boy Scouts, scholarships, food bank, senior services, parks, youth coalition, sports, learn-to-swim, sight and hearing, medical equipment, Camp Horizon and others. Every dollar realized from the sale of donated items goes to make our community a better place.

To get the best return from donations and the tremendous effort put into the sale by Lions and other great volunteers some guidelines and good judgment need to be applied when accepting donations.

•  We can't take everything.

•  Great quality may make an item saleable even if it's on the “don't take” list.

Good judgment is the key!

Donations must be accepted by a Lion! The public is not welcome to just drop stuff off.

The following Lions have access to the storage barn and will be happy to help accept donations or arrange for pick up.

Call our answering machine first at: 678-4105

Bill Bainbridge: 678-5256

Wilbur Bishop: 678-6916

Dennis Bullock: 679-2735

Mel Rogers: 678-7727

Freeman Boyer: 678-4290

Dale Riddle: 678-0382

Warren Ivy: 678-4541

Don Richardson: 678-7461

John Roomes: 679-1506

Bob Davies: 678-4352

Ralph Edwards: 678-4539

Jim Price: 678-7792

Bob Clay: 678-0288

Dates for our next sale: Begin moving items/setting up: June

Sale : Saturday - Sunday J

DONATIONS GUIDELINES

Seek good donations. We need them!

Please make people aware that we are grateful for the support of quality donations but we can't use everything.

In general Lions can't sell the following: Please do not accept them.

•  Tires, wheels, chains

•  Clothing, shoes (can be taken to thrift stores, etc.)

•  Stuffed animal toys. (collect mice & dirt in barn)

•  Mattresses, box springs

•  Large microwave ovens, console or large TV's (over 17”), large speakers (over 12”), printers, scanners, monitors

•  Telephones, fax machines, answering machines

•  Dirty, excessively worn or broken furniture.

•  Furniture made of chip board.

•  Appliances (unless very clean and in good working order)

•  Typewriters, copiers

•  Hide-a-bed sofas

•  Encyclopedias, magazines, Readers Digest books

In general, garage sale leftovers are not worth the time and trouble to pick them up.

If you pick up junk as a service, you are not a bad person, just take it on to the dump so others don't have to handle it.

One man's trash is another man's treasure, so a second opinion or consultation is sometimes a good way to do business too. Remember, we're all in this together.

From the Whidbey News-Times

Get headed to the starting line, folks. The Coupeville Lions Club Garage Sale is about to begin. “Starting line” is no metaphor. For this garage sale, there is literally a rope holding people back until the figurative starting gun fires. It’s Central Whidbey’s version of the Oklahoma land rush, only instead of land people are out to grab bargain-priced pieces of furniture, household items and electronics. Lions Club members expect at least 200 people will be waiting behind the rope when this year’s sale begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 29. It continues Sunday until 2 p.m. The last day of school in most communities means the kids are out for the summer. In Coupeville, it means the Lions Club can start moving tons of donated garage sale items into the elementary school.
On Friday, June 14, a pride of Lions filled trucks at their secret warehouse surrounded by farmland. They waited impatiently for 3 p.m. when school building would become officially available. “School ends today and we move in,” said Ron Boyer, Lions Club president. Actually, they only started moving in that day. They were looking forward to two weeks of moving items from secreted locations to the school.
In this a particular warehouse, donated items literally soared to the ceiling. Lions climbed around the stacks, handing items down to other Lions, who hauled them to the trucks. It was hard work. “I joined last week, and if it’s any indication of the work we will be doing I’ll be out of here next month,” complained Jim Brannan, the club’s newest member. The other Lions laughed and told him things would only get worse until the sale begins. For the Lions Club, the garage sale is more than worth the effort. Al Sherman helped start the annual blow-out sale 23 years ago, and since then he has seen it help fund a myriad of community projects. “This is the granddaddy of all garage sales,” said Lion Bob Clay, while Lion Bill Bainbridge described it as “a club effort — actually a community effort.” In Coupeville, as in many tiny towns across America, the Lions Club is one of the pillars of the community. Sale proceeds provide the flags that line Coupeville’s streets on patriotic days, support other projects and make scholarships possible for deserving students. “We gave away $15,000 the other day,” said Boyer, referring to scholarships given out to graduates.
People donate to the garage sale all year long, but the Lions don’t take junk. They make sure all donated items are clean and in working order, including computers and other electronic equipment.
That’s why garage sale fans keep coming back year after year, and it’s why a rope is needed to hold them back.
By JIM LARSEN Whidbey News-Times editor