Each year, our company organizes events to raise money for local charities. This year, the event was had a garage sale. The proceeds would be split fifty fifty between the charity and the seller.

An e-mail memo was sent to all employees asking them to go look through closets, attics, cabinets and drawers for any unneeded items. Human resources could be contacted for table reservations and everyone was advised to only request as many six foot long tables our products would require and inform human resources two weeks before the event. The sale would be held on Saturday in the company parking lot.

I had as much fun going through my house as I did at the actual event. David and I searched every nook and cranny of my house, discovering little trinkets and even things that I thought I had gotten rid of years ago. I also found some stuff I thought I had lost. I put it aside and David and I put the rest into boxes. I guessed we had enough items to fill two tables. My husband and I spent an entire Sunday afternoon sticking price tags on everything.

On the morning of the garage sale, my husband, David, and I arrived early to set up our tables. A large open-sided tent provided shade for all the tables beneath. Each table was numbered so David and I found our table easily. There was an area near the tent for cars to park and unload which made everything much easier.

The sale started an hour later. I saw some people I recognized from work looking over the items on our table and some people I think who saw the signs and the tent and stopped by for a look. My husband said he also saw an advertisement for the sale in the Sunday paper the previous week.

One funny thing that happened when a teen age boy was handing me the money for David's old electronic football game. I thought David had left it in the box because he didn't want it, but he came over and offered to buy it back from the kid for twice the price. The teen ager and he had a little bidding war, but eventually David came to his senses and let the kid have it for the original price. What a martyr!

I took a walk during my break and I was amazed by what our company had done! Some food carts had been set up at the far side of the tent. There were hot dogs, nachos, sub sandwiches, drinks and ice cream. There was also a booth selling Sebastiani wine, Sebastiani wine coolers and Corona beer. There was also a gold panning booth where you could buy a bag of dirt for a dollar, pour it into a metal gold pan and sift through the silt in the water running through the sluce. David must have gone over there ten times. He insisted people were finding rubies and garnets in there.

A country bluegrass band set up in the afternoon and played for a couple of hours. People started dancing and had a great time.

A clown entertained the children at the sale by performing magic tricks and making balloon animals. She was very good. She even taught the kids how to make a balloon poodle. I think they enjoyed that a lot more than just watching her make them. Some of the kids became so good she painted clown faces on their faces and they become helpers who taught other kids how to make balloon poodles. A couple of photographers wandered the grounds taking pictures of the kids, the band and the tables full of stuff.

I spent a few dollars buying some trinkets I found on other tables. David warned me to stop before we came home with as much stuff as we brought. At the end of the day, people from Human Resources came to every table to get a tally of the day's sales. Even with the fifty-fifty split, 250 participating employees raised a significant amount of money for local charities. The day went very quickly and Dave and I had fun. It was like owning our own business for a day.