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2012 Oak Point Yard Sale
The 13th annual Oak Point Homeowners Scholarship Association Yard sale
May 5th 7:30--2:00pm rain or shine
All proceeds go to scholarships for Middleboro High School graduates
Plenty of volunteers to help carry or drive your purchases to your car!
Pick up flyers for drop-off schedules at the clubhouse.
2013 Yard Sale
5/8/2013
I had a long talk with Jerry Ellis today.
Here is the problem: the core group (which is only 8 or 9 people) is getting older and tired. Many of them (including Jerry and Ron D'Agostino) say they will NOT be involved next year.That core group does a lot of work - probably 60 hours worth of commitment each total over the preceding months, not counting the day of the sale. If there were more people, obviously it could be less commitment, but if we cannot get at least that many, we simply can't do it - it would simply be too much to ask of people!
Second problem: some people who might be willing to work don't like the idea of an "outsider" (that's me) taking over. I understand that and I repeat: I DON"T WANT TO DO THIS. I'm only offering to step up because no one else seems to be willing to.
Third problem: some people don't like the idea of someone new (me again) coming in and "changing things". I wouldn't want to change anything - you don't fix something that isn't broken! But some people just aren't going to believe that and it could be that they are just tired and looking for a reason to bow out..
Fourth problem: there's some stuff (tents and labels and bags) that has to be stored. I don't have room in my garage right now, so somebody would have to step up for that. It's not a very large amount, but it's more than I have room for right now. I could take some of it, but not all.
Fifth problem: Jimmy Nelson (the guy who does most of the pricing) is one of the people who says he will have to cut back. We have an Antiques Club at Oak Point; perhaps some of them can help out with that but we need COMMITMENT.
On the good side: Jerry has everything well documented and will explain it all to me (or anyone else).
So, right now I have only a very few people on this list. It's plainly not enough - we can't take this on without many more. Please, please, please: ask people to join this list.
They can send a blank email to OakPointYardSale-subscribe@aplawrence.com or to tony@aplawrence.com telling me they want to be involved.
If we cannot get people committed, the Yard Sale dies. So please: ANY TIME YOU CAN COMMIT IS WONDERFUL. the big thing is the time spent at the containers - dropoffs, unloading - that's a LOT of time because so few were doing it and not everyone is physically capable.We have until mid to late June to decide. If we cannot decide by then, Jerry will sell or donate the tents and everything else of value and that's the end. No more Yard Sale.
My opinion: If we cannot get 20-30 committed people, we cannot do this. It's too much to ask otherwise.
Invite others to join by their sending email to OakPointYardSale-subscribe@aplawrence.com or to tony@aplawrence.com
5/9/2013
Somebody asked me why I'm pushing this now - after all, we just finished up the 2012 sale!
The problem is that Jerry Ellis doesn't believe this can be done and he intends to dump the tents and everything else as of July if he's not convinced we have a committed group in place.
Commitment is the issue. There is a lot of time involved and a lot of physical work collecting, sorting, pricing, setting up, tearing down and cleaning up. Jerry says he had a core group of less than ten people who did the lion's share of the work and that most or all of them have said that they are done - they won't do it now that Jerry is retiring.
I would say that because of inexperience (and to spread the load), we'd need a core group three times that size - thirty people who will commit to whatever it takes to see this through. Jerry doesn't think that is possible and he might be right.
Carolyn is putting something in the newsletter, but that won't be out until mid June, which is rather late considering the pressure Jerry's July deadline puts us under.
By the way, I asked Jerry if he'd call a meeting of the people who have been involved in the past to see if we can reawaken interest - he had initially said he would do that, but now he says he will not - it's up to us to find people.
I also asked Jerry if he'd be available in an advisory capacity next year. Initially he had told me that he would be, but yesterday he said that he "couldn't guarantee that".
So, it looks like pretty much we are on our own, we need a strong commitment from at least 20-30 able bodied people and we have only about a month to six weeks (maybe less - see below) to bring that all together. We also need commitment from the larger gang who can work the tables and so on.
I don't know if it is possible. Jerry might be right - there just may not be enough capable resources. I'd still like to try.
Right now, there are less than a dozen people who have contacted me to express ANY interest in helping and not all of them are physically capable of the work needed.
There is one more thing I want to mention. Jerry warned me that I will "look foolish" if I try to do this and fail.
I wouldn't FEEL foolish. I'd feel sad that we tried and failed, but I wouldn't feel foolish, so I'm not going to fret over that.
Oops, one more thing: as I was leaving Jerry, he said something about "Let's give it two weeks and see how many people you can find." I'm not sure if that means he's pushing the deadline to June now. It certainly feels like some sort of deadline, so please, if you can fire people up, do it NOW.
Here is what we need
In addition to the sale itself, we need help collecting (handling dropoffs at the containers) , sorting, pricing, setting up, tearing down and cleaning up.
My feeling is that if we cannot get 30 people to commit to a total of 4-6 hours each (not all at once, but spread out before and after the sale) and a few people who will commit to "whatever it takes", this isn't going to happen.
I'd take sixty people willing to commit to 2-3 hours too, but I doubt that's possible. I'll put myself in the "whatever it takes" slot but I don't expect a lot of company there.
Spread the word. This email is only going to a very few people - less than a dozen. Please forward it to everyone you know and talk about the need or the yard sale dies this year.
What I need:
Send me an email (tony@aplawrence.com) saying any or all of this:
- I can commit to X hour(s) before the sale (sorting, pricing, etc.), no more than X at a time.
- I can commit to X hour(s) on the day of the sale.
- I can commit to X hour(s) AFTER the sale (cleanup etc.), no more than X at a time.
If you are answering for two people, make sure I understand if you mean "each" or between the two of you!
Obviously health and family/job changes can affect this - you aren't signing in blood! I'm just looking to see how many promises we can get.
I'm hoping to get total promises of 500 hours or more, not counting the sale day itself. If we can get twice that I have no doubts that we can do this. Less than that, I do not know.
