Spring Cleaning: Want Not? Waste Not.

Rummage Sales for the Community, the Chapter, and Unborn Lives

By Holly Miller
NRLC Field Coordinator

With Mother's Day, Memorial Day Weekend, and graduations upon us, late spring is in full swing. Everywhere, and every weekend, our neighborhoods seem decked out with brightly colored signs advertising "Yard Sales," "Garage Sales," and "Moving Sales." Since bargain hunters, antique collectors, and frugal folks are out looking for steals and deals, these sales present pro-lifers with a few opportunities to make a difference for life.

Sometimes chapters hold rummage sales in the spring as a fundraiser for the chapter and a service to its members. Chances are good that your members' families are in the process of cleaning out their basements, attics, and garages and dispensing of items they no longer use or need. Collect these items from your members and hold a rummage sale with the proceeds going to the lifesaving work of the chapter.

Many chapters hold these sales to fund a particular project, like a billboard, fetal model set, newspaper ad, or registration to the National Right to Life Convention for its leaders. By specifying how the funds raised will be used, chapter members and the community at large have a tangible goal to work toward and verifiable results in which they can be proud.

A variation on the rummage sale might be to hold a book sale. Everyone has books they no longer read or need.

There is no need to price individual books--sell hardcovers for $2 and paperbacks for $1. Make sure you have adequate space so people have room to browse before buying. And make sure the books are good ones--such as the ones your high school and college kids no longer read.

For either sale, advertise heavily in local pro-life churches. Depending on the amount of pro-life sentiment in your community, you may or may not want to advertise in the local newspaper that the sale will benefit your right-to-life chapter.

If you are browsing rummage sales yourself, Marie Petranich of Brooklyn, New York, has set a great example for you. Petranich approaches sellers with a brochure for the local pro-life pregnancy center and asks them to donate any unsold baby and maternity items, and even items for small children up to age five, to the center. Since the pregnancy center is a bit of a drive from her neighborhood, she usually returns at the end of the rummage sale to collect the items and deliver them to the center.

Sellers are usually eager to have an easy way to "get rid" of unsold items and they can use the charitable donation as a tax deduction. Most importantly, the pregnancy center receives the furniture, clothes, toys, strollers, and other baby items that they can immediately give to mothers in need.

When it comes to using rummage sales to help the unborn, Petranich sums it up best: "You feel like you are doing something when otherwise [the sale items] would go to waste."

Note: If your chapter holds a rummage sale, donated items are not tax-deductible. If your state right to life organization has a separate segregated education fund with a 501(C)3 tax status, donations to that education fund are tax-deductible. National Right to Life recommends holding the rummage sale as a fundraiser for your chapter in order to raise the funds you need for pro-life educational projects.

While the time needed for planning a flower sale or Signature Ad for Mother's Day has passed, do not let the day pass your community by without your chapter reminding them of its special significance. A few ideas of easy projects you can do with short notice are:

* Encourage local pro-life pastors to take a second collection to benefit the chapter or pregnant mothers who choose life.

* Deliver "Thank You" notes and a red rose from your chapter to the pro-life obstetricians in your community. Thank those who deliver babies for their dedication to life and let them know how much the community appreciates their work.

* Write a "Letter to the Editor" of your local newspaper thanking mothers for choosing life and applauding the work of your pro- life community in protecting mothers and children from abortion.

If your chapter had a successful Mother's Day project, please let us know. We would love to share your successful ideas with other chapters throughout the country.