Volunteers Sold On Their Cause Nursing Home Organization Puts On Annual Rummage Sale

Almost 50 years ago, a group of young mothers began volunteer work in the Silver Valley.

They’re still at it.

“More than 20 of us are working on this, and all but one or two are grandmothers. I’d say a good half of us are great-grandmothers,” said Billie Shewmaker, 70, of Osburn.

Their project, the biggest rummage sale in the Silver Valley, begins Friday at the Veterans Memorial Hall in Silverton. It will benefit residents of Silver Wood Good Samaritan nursing home and caps two months of hard work.

“Sometimes we’re so tired we get silly. Try on clothes and wigs and goof it up for each other,” Shewmaker said.

In the early years of the sale, when it was still held at the nursing home, volunteers had less chance to visit. Each worker was assigned her own room or department. Shewmaker had the book room. Finding it lonely, she borrowed a stereo from the appliance department so she could listen to music.

“That was fine, until a friend of mine came along and bought it. I borrowed another one and sold that. By the end of the day, I’d sold all the stereos,” she laughed.

Shewmaker’s longtime friend Hazel Monson was another crack saleswoman. Head buyer for J.C. Penney’s in Wallace for years, she took charge of women’s clothing.

“You could hear her telling customers, ‘The better class of dresses are over here,’ just like she was in the Crescent or the Bon Marche,” Shewmaker said.

But it usually doesn’t take much salesmanship to move the merchandise. “We have seven rooms just jammed with everything you can think of,” said Dorothy Jaggard, co-chairwoman of the event.

The hall is wheelchair accessible and the offerings are diverse: clothing, books, kitchen appliances, furniture, windows, bicycles. Prices are low - buyers can pick up a book or a shirt for a quarter. The better clothes start at $1.

Bargains are priced as marked on Friday and Saturday; on Monday, everything is half-price. Tuesday shoppers pay a buck per bag.

Over the past 21 years, the same staunch group of Good Samaritan volunteers has donated $5,000 toward a new van, twice donated $2,500 to refurbish rooms, and supported other causes, Jaggard said. Each year, they give each resident a birthday gift. Recently, they purchased an aquarium for the nursing home. “Every year we say we’ll never do it again. We’re too old. It’s too much,” Shewmaker said.

“What keeps us going is the friendship. We’ve all known each other since we were young, volunteering for Cub Scouts, Blue Birds, and the Mothers’ March of Dimes.” She paused, then added, “I think it’s kind of beautiful that these women who have always been there are still at it.”