EVERETT — Taylor Funk beamed as she carried boxes containing toy houses she would use to build a Christmas village.
The 12-year-old, self-described third-generation bargain hunter got the treasures at a fraction of the price they would cost at a retail store.
And it was for a good cause.
The estate sale where Taylor and her family shopped last week supports Assistance League of Everett, an all-volunteer organization that has been serving Snohomish County since 1965.
Here’s how it works: When families are daunted by the task of going through the belongings of a loved one who has died, they can ask the Assistance League to clean up and sell off everything in the home. Half the money raised goes to the family, the other half to the charity.
Volunteers organized 13 sales last year, raising about $50,000.
The funds fuel the nonprofit’s work in the community. The League’s biggest program, Operation School Bell, provides wardrobes to thousands of low-income children in Snohomish County. The charity also gives out scholarships and provides “survival kits” to assault victims in hospitals.
The sales are so well-known and popular that people line up hours before the doors open in the morning, said Shirley Crout,* a longtime Assistance League member.
Crout, 90, of Everett, volunteers at the organization’s thrift shop several times a week and helps run the sales.
She remembers the very first estate sale in 1983. The idea came from a local attorney whose client died.
Crout walked around the home on View Drive with a smile on Saturday afternoon, helping customers and looking to see if anything was askew. She rearranged some glassware on a table into a neat row.
Karen Berleen, who lives nearby, saw the sign advertising the sale and came with her husband and son.
Berleen is skilled at foraging her way through a garage sale. It’s her hobby.
“I furnished my entire house from garage sales and estate sales,” she said. “It’s so fun. It’s like finding treasures.”
On Saturday, Berleen picked up a wooden entertainment set, a crystal candle holder and dinner bell. Her son found a first-edition Monopoly game.
Crout and a handful of other women spent hours and hours in the past two weeks cleaning the house and pricing all the items. They discovered more Christmas decorations than an entire room could hold. That’s where Taylor was shopping with her grandma and aunt.
Volunteers often have to pore over books and visit antiques shops to set the right price for some items.
At the sale before last week’s, they found thousands of yards of beautiful yarn. The homeowner was a quilter. It took a month to prepare that house, said Arva Dell Job of Lake Stevens.
Job joined the nonprofit after retiring as a registered nurse. She loves working estate sales.
“We are helping out the families. It’s really hard on them,” she said.
After a sale is over, volunteers take all that’s left to Assistance League’s thrift shop or to another organization. They vacuum and clean the house again.
“They always marvel about how clean we leave the house,” Job said. “We just don’t do bathtubs.”
Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452, kyefimova@heraldnet.com
Get involved
To learn more about the Assistance League of Everett and its programs, go to assistanceleagueofeverett.org or call 425-252-3011.
* Correction, Nov. 8, 2011: This article originally used an incorrect spelling for Shirley Crout’s name.
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