Yard sales are a common sight through the summer months, but the granddaddy of them all returned on Friday and Saturday as Mutual Ground in Aurora offered Miss Fannie’s Yard Sale for the 23rd year.
The annual fundraising event at Mutual Ground, a domestic violence shelter at 418 Oak Ave. in Aurora, is named after longtime volunteer and advocate Fannie Morrison, who began working with the group in 1999.
Morrison, 85, was once again on site and seen sorting items while chatting it up with what she refers to as “my customers” that come back every year.
“I feel good about this,” she said. “It’s like a high school or college reunion. This improves every year and this year we have new people involved and it evolves and gets bigger and better.
“This is like a neighborhood thing,” she said on Friday. “There are the same people I see year after year. We even sold things yesterday when we were setting up. We’re so grateful because everything is donated to us. It’s a win-win because people in the area are helping Mutual Ground and we’re helping them.”
The sale once again included the usual clothing assortment as well as books, shoes, household appliances, decorative items, toys and more that organizers said included last-minute donations.
Betsy Santana, advancement director for Mutual Ground, described the collection of items “as a little bit of everything” and that a year ago, “the event raised over $8,500.”
“That was our best year we’ve had with this, and the year before, we were right around $6,000 so we did a lot better for sure,” she said.
Items for the event, Santana said, “come from donations made in June and July specifically for the yard sale.”
“A lot of times, people bring us stuff after they have had their own garage sale. They’ll bring stuff leftover for us to sell,” she said. “The rest of it comes from throughout the year. We collect clothing things for months and as we’re getting closer to June, we’ll take a look and say, maybe we have too much of this one size and it’s getting overwhelming. We might sell some of it, but most of this comes from the last two months of collection.”
Santana admits there are also donations “that aren’t usually what we need” but that they are put out in the yard sale as well.
One of the regulars at the event is Theresa Heynez of Aurora, who said she lives just around the block from the Mutual Ground site.
“I’m coming here and buying soap and shampoos and everything, and I’ve been coming here for 20 years,” she said while loading a box in her car. “I put this on my calendar and know when this is coming up. Things are cheap and I can see more people are giving things and there are more choices.”
Sandy Nash, a volunteer who has worked at the event for seven years, said she “started volunteering here kind of for a family reason, and when I retired from teaching I needed something to do.”
“So, I came here and feel like support of this has grown over the years,” she said. “I think there has been growth in support as a volunteer as well as from those who come. This has grown because we’re more visible now and do a lot of advertising and getting the word out. There’s a big need in the community, and I think that helps a lot of the same people come, especially from the neighborhood.”
Lalo Torres of Aurora said he worked as a volunteer last year at the yard sale and came as a shopper this year “to support the community.”
“I wanted to come early to get the best selection and I buy a lot of presents and give them away to people,” he said. “This is much bigger than some garage sales and there is a lot of community involvement from those who come and support it. We are here to come and buy whatever we can to support the organization.”
Juana Bucio of Aurora said she has come to the sale “for more than 20 years.”
“There is much more here each year,” she said while looking over a pile of blankets. “I come and buy toys, blankets, pants, shoes. I try to come the first day in order to find what I need.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
