Kindness Yard Sale - THE TOTAL IS IN!

We did it!

The Kindness Yard Sale is complete.  It was a full day, that’s for sure!  David and I started putting items out at 7:00 am, and we had not ever really finished that task when we finally closed up shop at 6:15 pm!   There were just SO.  MANY.  DONATIONS!  It was amazing!

Many neighbors stopped to chat and shop.  It was lovely!  I met some people that I had only known online (nice to put a face with a name) and saw people I hadn’t seen in a while.  I foolishly thought that once we got everything set up in the morning, I would spend the rest of the afternoon chatting, “ringing people up”, and serving lemonade.  Wrong, wrong, wrong!  When there weren’t customers, we would pop back inside to bring out more goods! 

We had incredible support from generous shoppers, much more generous that I could have imagined.  A couple of people even gave donations and didn’t buy anything!!  But counting the money is the easy part.  I think at this point it is more important to think about the day – the experience – and what it meant.

Talking with neighbors all day reminded me of the importance of COMMUNITY.  People rode up on their bikes, walked, pushed strollers…  And what a SEA of people – every age, different languages being spoken, different beliefs I am sure.  And yet here we were – most of us strangers, but still a COMMUNITY.

I had several favorite moments of the day.  One was when 3 girls dressed in PRIDE gear were on the lawn trying to figure out how to open a suitcase David had donated.  It used to be his favorite bag and he had a bit of a difficult time deciding to let it go.  He rushed down to show them how the lock worked and they were so excited!  They ended up buying the suitcase and a couple of other things so came up on the porch to check out.  As we talked they told us they are not official neighbors, but they are interns here for the summer.  One girl said she teared up when she read the sign on the gate saying the money raised was being used for kindness.  I told them about my Kindness Activist project and gave them each a Kindness Activist button, which made her cry again!  They were so sweet.  When I asked how much they would like to donate for their items, they, like many shoppers today, hemmed and hawed a bit.  It is HARD to price your own items!  So someone (I think it was David) suggested maybe $15 for everything they were getting.  They smiled and said, “Well, we were going to give you $20 just for the SUITCASE, so how about $25 for everything…”.  ISN’T THAT BEAUTIFUL?

Another favorite moment was when an early teen child came up to me and asked a bit awkwardly, “Are you having a yard sale?”.  Ummm, no kid, I just like having my grass and porch filled with stuff and walking around wearing a fanny pack…  😊  Once he was assured it was indeed a yard sale, he set about exploring.  He was meticulous in his shopping, but once he heard me mention LEGOS to a little boy his behavior changed a bit.  I brought out a big tub of Lego, and those boys, 1 probably 5 years old and one around 15, sat side by side for what was probably half an hour.  They quietly looked at piece after piece, each boy sharing so nicely and being so respectful.   

One older Hispanic woman and I found a common language even though neither of us were fluent in the other's native tongue.  I offered her a SANGRIA ICE CUBE on a hot afternoon, and her eyes lit up.  A quick nod of the head made it clear we understood one another.  :) 

It was fun to see our State Delegate (Alfonso Lopez) take a break from campaigning (the election is THIS TUESDAY) to stop by and say hi (and shop!).  Alfonso is a terrific guy – very down-to-earth and relate-able.  Don’t worry Alfonso, your sign is going back up on our fence (I had replaced it for a yard sign sale and about 15 hours after I took it down a couple days ago he showed up with a replacement sign and pronounced our corner to be the best one to post political signage). 

It made my heart happy that a neighbor decided she would tell me about a beautiful kind act she had done in secret and not told anyone else.  

I was so happy to meet a man who told me he drives by our house everyday - going to and coming from work.  He smiled and said, "You have coats in winter, yes?".  He then explained that twice he had stopped and picked up coats from our front gate in my "Project Warmth" coat giveaways!  It was an honor to meet him and know where some of the coats went and that he sincerely appreciated them. That is good motivation to continue that project when winter returns.  

And finally, a wonderful moment was when a FLOAT heading to the big Pride Parade in DC stopped right in front of our house!  It was decorated in trans flag colors and it looked magnificent!!  We couldn’t go to Pride this year because of the sale, so it felt like Pride came to us!!!  I cheered and the people in the truck pulling the float rolled down the windows and celebrated with us!  Happy Pride!

Ok, enough chatting.  Let’s get to the part we have all been waiting for:  the donations!  How much did we take it, which equals how much KINDNESS WE CAN PUT OUT? 

One moment while we unload our official yard sale fanny packs and do the math…

The Kindness Yard Sale raised $1005.46!!!!!  Over $1000 in one day!  Isn’t that remarkable!  I am so excited to see how many kind acts we can do with that money!  I never expected this to raise nearly that much.  And if I add in the money from online auctions of 2 items I did leading up to the sale and the friends who donated to give us a cushion (in case the yard sale was a flop…) – we raised a total of $1205.46 FOR KINDNESS!!!!!! 

Thank you all SO MUCH.  The smiles, the donations, the whole experience has been really heart warming.  I promise to spend every penny on KINDNESS and to report back what it was used for.

Special thanks to all of the generous people who donated items to sell.  Many of those things found new homes today!  And those that didn’t get sold today will get donated (be on the look out for tons of posts from me Buy Nothing Friends…).

Also, thanks to:

·         Kendra for the loan of the big cooler for lemonade – it was really needed

·         Marta for the hard work on translating the signage into SPANISH.  Translation is not an easy task, nor is explaining the concept of this type of sale to someone that you do not share a common language with!  Marta, we had a few copies printed of your translations and used them A LOT!

·         Amy and Michael for helping us (the earring is still elusive Amy but WILL be found)

·         Ixi for bringing us some tasty donuts from Mac’s truck!  (We hadn’t eaten anything all day yet so they were great fuel to keep up going)

·         Jay for donating so many Lego – apparently Lego unites generations (and I kind of understand more now why parents complain about Lego, I am finding bits of them in the yard and on the porch…)

·         The Buy Nothing administrator for VERY politely reminding me that I shouldn’t be talking about selling stuff on BUY nothing 😊

·         A little neighbor girl, 2 year old Ellie, who decided to give her $2 of change back as a donation.  I think she is a Kindness Activist in training.

·         Janet for the Gatorade –shoppers were delighted with it after we got it ice cold

·         And the amazing Penrose community

·         And anyone else I forgot to thank (sorry!  It is 2:00 am and I am sleeeeepy)

P.S. – Shout out to the trickster that donated an “unrated” movie (”Eurotrip”) that looks a bit “soft pornish” on the cover, AHHHHH!  Neighbors I had never met probably think I am a complete weirdo now – in putting books and DVDs out quickly, I failed to notice that this movie miiiight not be 100% appropriate.  So, I did as any good retailer would do, I DISPLAYED IT WITH ALL OF THE OVER DVDS, meaning “Eurotrip Unrated” was next to some Disney Princess movie for hours and hours until I noticed it!

P.P.S. – Does anyone want to buy a copy of “Eurotrip Unrated” on DVD?

P.P.P.S – there WILL be a video of David get pied from the Pie in the Face game thanks to friends who donated before the sale!  We need a bit of rest, and to buy some whipped cream, and then BLAMO!!