Angora donations for sale

STEVE TIMKO
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 8/16/2007

IF YOU GO
What: Sale to benefit the American Red Cross.
Where: Goodwill, 2424 Oddie Blvd.
When: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Overflow donations from the community for the Angora Fire victims will be sold Saturday and Sunday to raise money for other fire victims.

Some Angora Fire victims looked through about six truckloads of items donated in their behalf to the American Red Cross, and the rest is at the Goodwill store at 2424 Oddie Blvd.

A variety of things remain: clothes for women, men and children; linens and towels; tables; and such household items as vacuum cleaners, coffee pots, pots and pans, and dishes, said Rob Harden, chief executive officer for Goodwill Northern Nevada.

Rather than sell the remaining items individually, it will be sold by the pound, Harden said. Clothing and soft goods will go for $1.50 a pound. Housewares and other items will go for $1 a pound.

A nine-pound vacuum cleaner, for instance, will sell for $9.

While they check to make sure items they sell in their Goodwill store work, they haven't had time to test if everything donated for Angora Fire victims works, Harden said.

The Red Cross is unable to handle donations like this, so they were stored at Goodwill, said Caroline Punches, executive director of the Northern Nevada Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Some Angora Fire victims looked through the donations and took what they needed, Punches said. She noted there also were donations at Lake Tahoe and other places. It's time to move out the other donations, Punches said.

"At this point, according to people who are in the thrift store business, if things sit around too long, they start to deteriorate," Punches said.

Money earned from the sales of the items will go through the Red Cross to help other families who lose homes to fire, she said.

In July, the Red Cross helped 17 Northern Nevada families displaced by single-family home fires, she said. That's almost double the amount in a typical month.

When families are displaced by fire, the Red Cross provides food and clothing, medical assistance and mental health counseling. If they need help finding a place to live, it might help them with money for the first month, she said.

The Red Cross also is looking for volunteers for a variety of tasks, from helping out in disasters to making disaster presentations to service clubs and health fairs. Interested people should call 856-1000.