The 42nd Annual Garage and Estate Sale is up and running. Our volunteers have worked hard to prepare for the big event. This group of men specifically has been an enormous help! All these men are here with one common goal- to help raise money for our girls at The Settlement Home. They love knowing that their work is making a positive impact. A couple brave souls were kind enough to share their stories!
Richard Scott has been volunteering at the Settlement Home Garage and Estate Sale for eight years now! He was recently retired and his wife suggested he help out. Richard’s favorite part about the event is knowing he is helping all of the girls. He’s gotten to know the girls over time and enjoys seeing their progress! Something Richard loves about volunteering at the garage sale is that he gets to exercise will volunteering. He also cherishes all the friendships he has made. The guys are all very close; Monday nights they often hang out after a long day of work and drink some beers. In addition, he and his wife also go out on dates with other couples who are volunteers.
Jim Ronner has been volunteering at the Settlement Home Garage and Estate Sale for three years now! He first got involved when he moved to Austin from Indiana and his sister-in-law suggested he help out. He started volunteering on Monday nights and got to see how passionate everyone was about the cause. Jim got the chance to work with Richard his first year here and they’ve been good friends ever since. Furthermore, Jim has tremendous respect for all the men. He loves that they are all there for the same reason- to help out as much as they can. The advice he would give to new volunteers is to remember why they are there in the first place and take a deep breath when things feel overwhelming. He admires how hard everyone works. Fun fact about Jim is that he loves the outdoors. One of his favorite things that he’s seen when sorting is a barrel of fishing pools.
Terry has been volunteering at the Settlement Home Garage and Estate Sale for twenty-eight years now! His neighbor, Dan Hanshaw, told him about the sale and he has been a volunteer ever since. Every year he is amazed at all the donations that people make and loves how giving Austin is! Terry is glad he can help and enjoys bringing picadillos on random mornings. Advice he gives to first timers is to enjoy yourself. Things can get crazy on Sundays, but he loves it! Terry loves garage sales and this event is always fun for him. Terry states what a pleasure it is to help out the women and girls of The Settlement Home!
J B Pace has been volunteering at the Settlement Home Garage and Estate Sale for fifteen years now! A little bit of history behind the sale that he told us about is how before the sale existed the women would have a horse show. The barn used for the horse show was then used for the garage sale. At one point they even auctioned off cars during the garage sale. The sale got bigger each year so they needed a new location. Luckily, some of the husbands of the ladies planning the event were in commercial real estate. So the husbands were able to find empty warehouses that they could use. Another fun fact about the garage sale is that at one point they used display some of the items for sale on a WWII aircraft along the seats. Thank you to J B for sharing a piece of this event’s history.
We appreciate all the hard work and dedication of all these men! Thank you, we would not be here without our volunteers! A special thanks to the men who shared their stories. Your passion is inspiring!