The Mega Sale Returns! Kennedy Gym

The Mega-Sale Returns
For more information contact: Margaret Kerr (620) 644-8220
 
Friday and Saturday, June 11th and 12^th, Kennedy Gym will open its doors to the public and reveal Fort Scott’s biggest “treasure hunt” of the  year. The annual fundraiser, known as The Mega Sale, is Fort Scott’s largest Garage Sale of the year. Each spring Mary Queen of Angels community pulls together to empty basements, clean out closets, and declutter homes to provide the inventory for the sale. All of the funds generated help the church provide for youth activities in the parish.

“We look forward to the doing the sale every year.” said Lori Guilfoyle co-founder and long-time volunteer.  “It really has become a source of amazement. For years we have relied on the generosity of our church and community to donate all the items we sell and year after year we have been able to literally pack the gym with furniture, appliances, construction materials, toys, household items, and anything else you might imagine.”

In recent years, a great source of vitality for the event has come from members of the church who have donated the entire contents of their homes after moving or downsizing. These donations have helped make the sale a huge success because in many cases the donations have included one of a kind items that were collectible or antique. “One year, a parishioner donated such a beautiful hand-made quilt from the WWI era that we decide it should be raffled separately as a fundraiser for the altar society.” We just never know what’s coming but the generosity is overwhelming.”

The Mega-Sale has always had a two-fold purpose. The first purpose is to raise money for the kids of Mary Queen of Angels parish. The second purpose is to provide high-quality goods at an affordable price to the people of Fort Scott. Through a tremendous volunteer effort the sale is presorted and arranged. The items are gone through carefully so that the sale is not full of things that are broken or chipped.  Likewise, volunteers sort and fold each piece of clothing so anything stained or ripped never makes it into the sale. Many volunteers are needed in the week before the sale.
 
“Each year, we open the doors at 6:30 a.m. on Friday and are astounded that there is a line of customers when we unlock the doors.  Some years we have don’t even make a pot of coffee before we get hit with a huge rush of customers We laugh that the Mega-Sale has created its own version of a Black Friday Sale.” said Margaret Kerr, a fellow volunteer.

Organizers went on to say that the sale is a two-day event but that the best stuff sells fast.  The second day is a day of half-priced items and and the sale ends up with a fill a bag for a dollar event to help empty the gym. In the last few years, Mary Queen of Angels has a new tradition. Everything left over at the end of a sale is donated to a Baptist Church in Nevada. The Baptist Church volunteers arrive around 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning and box all the leftovers and take them for their church’s sale.  Guilfoyle said they were really grateful that they were able to pass on any leftover donations and continue the spirit of goodwill and charity with other churches.