The 2nd Annual May Day for SMA Sidewalk Sale was a tremendous success, raising just over $5,000!!! With item donations from over a hundred different families, a dozen volunteers to run the event, and well over 500 shoppers, the sale exceeded all our expectations!!! This is entirely the brain child of Bill's mom, aka Gramma, and she tirelessly planned, organized, and rallied the troops to make this fundraiser so incredible. She said:
We had double the number of items donated, which helped make the sale so successful. Hot items this year were bicycles, appliances and household items, home decorating items, jewelry, and anything related to infants and children! The day was a busy one and there was not a moment from 9:00 a.m. until closing at 3:00 p.m. that the parking lot was not flooded with purchasers. We were amazed at the response we had to the sale this year. I am very excited to announce that we reached our goal and the sale profited $5,010.21 to be donated to the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation to find a cure for SMA. WOW! What a tremendous tribute to all of the volunteers who helped out on the day of the sale!! This could not have been accomplished without each of you!!! And to all of you who generously donated to the sale, a HUGE thank you!!
We are enormously grateful for all of the wonderful items that were donated. Thank you to all of our friends (near and far) who not only donated, but asked friends, neighbors, and Mom's clubs to donate new and gently used treasures. And the sale could not have happened at all if it had not been for the many volunteers willing to collect items, load and unload the enormous amount of merchandise, and sell, sell, sell in the hot sun. Thank you to the Lerner family, Leslie and Danielle Tappis, Marylou and Doug Smith, Carl and Betsy Zentner, Great Auntie Weez, Spencer, Heidi, Sandy, Felipe, Aunt Kristen and Uncle Richard, GrandPa Withey, Barbara and Owen Carter, and, of course, Gramma Strong.
Not only are we having the sale again next year (3rd Annual!), but we are hoping to implement Gramma's vision of sales across the country! When Gramma first planned this, she hoped to get others to hold their own May Day for SMA garage sales all on the first weekend of May to benefit GSF. This year the Zahn family in Wisconsin and the Lamont family in Canada joined by hosting garage sales in their areas this month, but we hope to inspire even more families to be part of the event. They don't all need to be quite as large as Gramma's big Los Angeles sale, but a couple hundred dollars raised here and a thousand there, quickly add up to making an enormous difference in SMA research!!! So, start collecting your items for next year — and if you are too far to contribute to Gramma's sale, think about hosting your own (contact us if you are interested.)
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!