In the six years that she has been organizing the twice-a-year Shortreed Community Elementary School dollar sale, Cashmere Roder estimates the biggest deal she has seen at the Aldergrove event was a Foosball table.
It went for a dollar.
So have some other big bargains at other Shortreed dollar sales, including a Keurig coffee maker, and a robot vacuum clearer.
“It [the robot cleaner] was still in its package,” Roder recalled.
“It was brand new.”
Some people have suggested the fundraiser might want to charge a little more for such items, but Roder disagrees.
No,” she explained, “it’s all about the excitement for the community.”
Everything, and they mean everything, is for a dollar, Roder said.
“It’s a garage sale in our gym,” Roder told the Langley Advance Times.
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The fundraiser by the Shortreed Parent Advisory Council, organized with PAC president Amy Synesael, helps pay for special school events.
The dollar sale was raising between $1,400 and $1,700 every November and April before the pandemic forced a hold, Roder estimated.
“It’s a pretty big benefit.”
On Friday, April 22, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., the event will return to the school at 27330 28th Ave. for the first time in two years.
Roder said other than sorting through clothes, most donations don’t get unpacked until the day of the sale, so it’s hard to say how many big bargains can be expected this time.
However, she did notice a couple of attractive artificial Christmas trees, one of which she described as “ginormous.”
Small donations – no more than a few bags – were being accepted until Thursday between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the school.
Donors of larger items were advised to contact the Shortreed School Dollar Sale Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/events/709663180204540/.
Roder added a big thank-you to Langley’s Toy Central.
“They donate their time, and come sort and organize all our toys. They are a big help getting ready the morning of the sale. They do this out of the kindness of their hearts and are not affiliated with our school or PAC,” she noted.
She also thanked Aldergrove thrift store Fibromyalgia Well Spring Foundation, which takes all the leftover donations, “helping more people in our community.”
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Have a story tip? Email: dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
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