CULLMAN – Cullman Caring for Kids held their annual yard sale this week at the Cullman County Fairgrounds. Exhibit Building 1 was packed to the brim with just about everything imaginable – all at a great price. All proceeds from the yard sale went to Cullman Caring for Kids.
“We have had a huge crowd today and we expect a huge crowd every day through Saturday,” said CCFK Executive Director Javon Daniel on Thursday. “This is our annual yard sale, which we have been doing now for the last 10 years, except we skipped last year,” he smiled. “It is one of our many fundraisers. It’s a lot of work, but it’s good for us. We have been collecting yard sale items, off and on, for the past two years, and we have been up here setting things up every day for the last two weeks. As you can see, we are still bringing things in,” he pointed to a couple of men carrying boxes full of items. “We had an 18 wheeler trailer that we stored a lot of it in, and the rest we had in our basement. Mostly individuals have made the donations, but Walker Brothers has donated some things too.”
There were lots of happy shoppers at the yard sale, especially young children. Several could be seen dragging boxes filled with toys around the building, only stopping to add to their stashes. But it wasn’t always the little ones with their boxes filled; there were a few adults as well.
“It’s been a while since we have come to this particular yard sale, but we have come several times before,” said Kerri Gamble, who was shopping with her daughter, Madison. “A friend of mine actually told me about this yesterday, so we made plans to stop by today. We love coming out and shopping; where else are you going to find great deals?”
“This is the yard sale where we found my brother’s books a couple years ago,” said 14-year-old Madison.
“Yes! My son had wanted some old books like ‘The Great Gatsby,’ but I could not find them anywhere,” Gamble explained. “I ended up finding them here a couple years ago; they were over there on a shelf against the wall,” she pointed. “There was a whole bookshelf with old books like ‘The Great Gatsby’ and works by Shakespeare. I was shaking I was so excited; I could not find those books anywhere!”
The annual yard sale doesn’t just involve selling gently used merchandise; this weekend there were other child-friendly things offered as well.
On Friday and Saturday, the Cullman Masonic Lodge was onsite doing child identification kits. The kits included a picture, voice recording, finger prints, demographics and answers supplied by the children themselves.
Cullman Caring for Kids has a mission – that no child will ever be abused, no child will go to bed hungry, no infants will ever be shaken in anger and the cycle of abuse will be stopped. To learn more, visit http://www.cullmancaringforkids.com/.
