Serving Serve: Sale supports ministry caring for the Moses Lake community
Customers peruse donated goods offered by Serve Moses Lake on Saturday.
Sam Fletcher/Columbia Basin Herald
Much of the money raised from the garage sale will go to help low-income people rent a home, just one of the ways Serve Moses Lake impacts its community.
Left to right: volunteers Max Isaacson, Carry Liles, Irene Waters and Rosie Sonnichsen catch some shade by the register at the Serve Moses Lake garage sale fundraiser on Saturday.
MOSES LAKE — When Serve Moses Lake, along with a handful of generous donors and volunteers, had some items to get rid of, the solution fell before them: a garage sale fundraiser.
Serve Moses Lake, an outreach organization of the Moses Lake Ministerial Association of Churches, provides advocacy, bus passes, clothing, financial assistance, food baskets, furniture, meals and much more to those in need.
The money donated from the weekend sale will likely pay application fees for low-income individuals looking to rent, said volunteer Carry Liles.
Anything that isn’t sold will be donated to members of the community, too, she said, be it shoes, socks, washcloths or warm clothing for the wintertime.
Some of the funds will go to the creation of hygiene packs, said volunteer Rosie Sonnichsen, bags of toiletries for those who need it.
The sale, which lasted Friday through Sunday, brought in a surprising number of people the first day, Liles said. At least 75 people came to the Lakeshore Drive home, where it was held, and organizers sold most of their merchandise.
Sonnichsen started volunteering for Serve Moses Lake more than a decade ago, she said. It’s a great benefit to the community, and she likes to be involved.
“Serve Moses Lake is a community-bounded place,” Liles said. “The director down there, Brandon (LaBonte), is really on top of trying to help everybody here in Moses Lake.”
Liles started volunteering just over a year ago, she said. Before that, she ran the Moses Lake Senior Center on Third Avenue.
“Helping seniors and helping people in the community is what we do, and that’s why I went to Serve Moses Lake, because that’s what they do,” she said.
To donate time, money, clothing or anything else that might help someone in need, call Serve Moses Lake at 509-764-8276.
