Singer Amy Grant hopes to see lots of bargain hunters on Saturday, Oct.
24 during her second annual charity yard sale taking place on the
campus lawn (facing Belmont Boulevard) at Lipscomb University from 7
a.m. – 2 p.m.
Grant and several of her friends have been busy this week getting
everything ready. “We have 10 or 12 PODS full of items,” Grant
excitedly says on the phone Friday morning. “We’ll have more than 100
tables of stuff this year … a lot of clothes, household items, computer
equipment, furniture, instruments and miscellaneous treasures.”
Sale items will be separated by price. “There are $1, $5, $10, $25 and
$50 tents along with a big area for larger ticket items,” says Grant,
adding that she will be manning her own tent with personal items from
her home.
Money raised from the sale benefits two local charities — Project
Redesign and Project S.E.E. “Project Redesign was started by a handful
of people I’ve known for years and is operated in conjunction with The
Martha O’Bryan Center,” Grant says. The incentive-based program
primarily focuses on families living in the James Cayce Homes and helps
them with their lifestyle and interior spaces. “There was a single
father with four kids who were all sleeping on piles of clothes because
they had no beds,” Grant says. “Project Redesign helped supply this
family with furniture, carpet and curtains.”
The Project Redesign committee collects donations of gently used
household items and furniture, gift certificates and cash, all of which
are tax deductible. Learn more at www.projectredesign.com.
“Project S.E.E. — which stands for support, education and empowerment —
is an after-school program that launched in the early ‘90s by a former
teacher and principal in the Metro public school system,” explains
Grant. “The program is for at-risk kids in the Cumberland View
projects, which statistically have some of the highest crime and
violence rates in the city.” Project S.E.E. offers mentoring and
tutorial programs that include cultural enrichment like music
education; everything is designed to help reduce drug and alcohol use
among the youth living in the housing development. Learn more at
www.templechurch.org/minis
Last year, Grant’s sale generated more than $25,000 that helped offset
medical bills for a local family whose child died from complications of
cerebral palsy. “Someone asked me last year why I didn’t just write a
check, but money itself isn’t always the answer,” Grant says. “I
believe we have the answers in our own community, and it’s important to
connect those dots. We met the goal we needed last year, and it was
wonderful to see the community come together to give back.”
Grant says the crew is trying to hook up credit/debit card processing
for the sale tomorrow, but to be on the safe side, bring cash. At the
end of the afternoon, there’s a good chance that anything that’s left
will be marked down. True yard-sale enthusiasts, like myself, of
course, will be there at the crack of dawn to start treasure hunting!
Hope you to see you there!
