The Pidherney Centre is filled with books, records, furniture and more for the Whisker Rescue Garage Sale this weekend.
Whisker Rescue, a volunteer-run cat rescue organization, has held its annual garage sale for eight years. All funds go toward programs helping the rescue cats.
Stacy Worobetz, volunteer executive director and co-founder of the organization, said this is the biggest garage sale yet.
“We’ve been doing this for a long time, but this is just huge,” she said. “People were asking about it and looking forward to it all year. They’d say they’re saving stuff up for the sale or would want to know when they can come shop.”
The garage sale raised $800 in its first year and $40,000 last year. Worobetz said the sale has grown significantly since moving to the Pidherney Centre a few years ago.
“It’s the lifeblood of Whisker Rescue,” she said. “I hope we raise as much as possible. If we did $40,000 last year, I hope we can do $50,000 this year. Might as well shoot for the stars.”
Worobetz said the volunteers did a great job putting the garage sale together.
“People were lined up here at 8 a.m. … and they’re saying it’s organized, clean, wonderful. People are very happy,” she said.
The positive response from shoppers has been wonderful, Worobetz said.
“Some of us started crying a little bit. It’s a very emotional event for some of us because we work so hard for about three weeks straight – the past two days we’ve had probably four hours of sleep.
“We’re shaking, tired and hungry, but it’s awesome. When someone comes up and says this is amazing, it’s all worthwhile,” she said.
Typically there are 90 tables full for the garage sale, but Worobetz said there are enough donations to fill 110 tables this year.
“I’m in awe by all the stuff donated and I hope we can actually sell it all,” she said.
The garage sale will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at the Pidherney Centre in Red Deer.
For more information on Whisker Rescue, visit www.whiskerrescue.com.
