Teens Holding Lions Garage Sale to Help Boys’ Home in Jamaica

The annual will help hundreds of Woodbury folks de-clutter their homes.

But for Teens 4 Charity—a group of youth volunteers who engage in service projects for those less fortunate—this week’s event will help build up a boys’ home in Jamaica.

The group has been in existence for about three years, said Lynn Blake, one of three Woodbury parents who founded Teens 4 Charity.

“We thought it was a great way to teach teens how to serve and have fun at the same time,” she said.

All proceeds from this week’s sale will help Sunbeam, a home in Jamaica that provides housing, education and other services for boys who have been orphaned, abused or involved in criminal activity. The home us funded solely through donations.

The Teens 4 Charity sale will be held at 3464 Crestmoor Drive (the home of Dick and Stacy Swenson). The runs Thursday through Saturday (May 8-10).

Teens 4 Charity has about 15 members who engage in a wide range of service projects that benefit groups from inner city schools to organizations in Africa, Blake said. They have done everything from book drives to charity events during Halloween to buying gifts for families in need during the holidays.

“We’re trying to teach them to be service-oriented individuals,” Blake said.

The teenagers will help staff the sale after school hours on Thursday and Friday, and all day on Saturday.

Because teens are organizing the sale, many of the items will be “youth focused,” Blake said, but there will also be typical household items, as well.

“I think it’s going to be tremendous,” she said. “You put 15 kids together with their friends—I imagine it’s going to be a big sale.”

There are 650 homes signed up for this year’s event, a slight uptick from last year, said Woodbury Lion Don Place.

People can get a directory of the homes involved at area gas stations and grocery stores. The directory also has information about what items are being sold. About 25 Lions were out Wednesday delivering the official Lions Club Garage Sale signs, Place said.

The net proceeds from the event go “right back into Woodbury,” Place said, noting the club’s donations to the and other area groups, along with its annual scholarships.

Lions Club members also direct people to places such as Goodwill where they can donate items that aren’t sold during the sale.

Local hotels fill up with out-of-state shoppers who come to Woodbury just for the event, Place said.

But there’s one group that doesn’t embrace the sale as much as others. The event can generate a lot of traffic on Woodbury roads, Place said.

“School bus drivers hate this,” he said.

For more information visit the Woodbury Lions Club website.

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