Friday, September 04, 2009
Vinton man hatches charitable yard sale
Have you heard?
JoAnne Poindexter
'Have you heard?'
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William "Chad" Whitworth says he's a fairly new Roanoke Valley real estate agent, and business has been kind of slow.
A couple of weeks ago, before going to bed, Whitworth, a Vinton native, said he prayed "for God to please bless me with some sort of more work and to use me."
Within minutes he had an idea: a neighborhood yard sale to raise money for a charitable or service agency.
Whitworth said he was so excited he could hardly sleep. After jotting down some of the ideas that were running through his head, Whitworth scheduled the sale for Sept. 19 from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Whitworth said he wanted to work on a project that would unite and benefit the community.
"With the way our economy has been the past couple of years, we really need to unite as Americans and help each other -- Republican or Democrat," he said.
Whitworth wrote a letter seeking household participation and delivered it door to door in the Dillon Woods subdivision in Vinton.
He asked residents to rid their homes of unused items during the yard sale and to donate a portion of their proceeds to the Roanoke Rescue Mission, Total Action Against Poverty and United Service Organizations.
Although Whitworth doesn't have an exact count of the number of participating households, "the response so far has been pretty positive," he said.
"One family said they would do a lemonade stand, and I'm hoping there will be some bake sales, too."
Whitworth said he hopes other residents will read about him, hold yard sales in their neighborhoods and donate a portion of their proceeds to one of the three agencies.
Whitworth can be reached at 521-5694.
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Ukrop's Super Markets has donated $1,300 to 19 Roanoke Valley nonprofit organizations as part of the company's Golden Gift program.
"Our Golden Gift is a truly unique giving program because donations are made completely at the direction of Ukrop's valued customers," said Jason Woodcock, general manager of the Roanoke store.
"It's one of the many ways we give back to the community."
Roanoke Ukrop's customers selected the Roanoke Valley SPCA and the Rescue Mission as the two top organizations to receive financial awards.
