”
What was your name? OK. I can be there in 45 minutes. A $25 gift
card? Awesome.
”
Days prior to her garage/bake sale and raffle fundraiser,
organizer Shannon O’Dell’s cell phone is still ringing with
calls.
”
It’s turned in to a really big community event,
”
the Gilroy resident said Thursday.
“What was your name? OK. I can be there in 45 minutes. A $25 gift card? Awesome.”
Days prior to her garage/bake sale and raffle fundraiser, organizer Shannon O’Dell’s cell phone is still ringing with calls.
“It’s turned in to a really big community event,” the Gilroy resident said Thursday.
She turned and indicated to a mass of donated items piled up in a storage unit.
“It’s really overwhelming, emotionally.”
Since the 9.0 magnitude earthquake rocked Japan March 11, Gilroy has seen a number of grassroots efforts on the home front. From grocery stores to businesses, theater productions to high school students, the outpouring of response has been swift and sincere.
Like others horrified by images of desecrated villages and entire houses swept out to sea, O’Dell was moved to do something.
But when the 34-year-old mother of one decided to facilitate a garage sale with proceeds going to the American Red Cross, she wasn’t anticipating the backbone her one-woman show would garner from the entire community and beyond.
“I could not stand to watch the news, and I felt so helpless not being able to do anything,” she recalled. “I called the Red Cross and they said the best thing to do is contribute monetarily because they get inundated with material items.”
So O’Dell branched from the “superfluous material items” concept, and ran with the idea.
“I thought at least I’d have a garage sale at my house, get neighbors involved and it would be a small thing,” she said.
The project has since proliferated into three 30-foot storage units, five garages, an influx of donated items and a bevy of volunteers scheduled to report for duty from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Saturday at South Valley Community Church at 8095 Kelton Drive. The Red Cross will be sending volunteers toward the end of the day to help wrap things up, which will give O’Dell a chance to present the money in person.
“I think this thing has really snowballed, probably to the point where they don’t know how big this is going to be,” said Mark Turner, an associate pastor at South Valley Community Church.
Turner noted the church, which has a spacious parking lot and experience in facilitating community gatherings, welcomed the proposal of hosting the event as momentum grew.
For O’Dell, he laughed, this was going to be your average yard sale, hopefully yielding a couple hundred bucks.
“Then bam, this thing has taken off,” he said. “It’s great to see the entire community rally around this little event.”
The roster of vested residents and involved agencies continues to grow.
Businesses such as Trader Joe’s and Centris WholeCare in Morgan Hill, Kai Maddox Salon in Los Gatos and Stubby’s Sports Bar & Grill in Gilroy have donated toward the cause. Church members will be whipping up edible morsels to sell. Venues including Ninja Sushi, Nob Hill and Lavender Day Spa – not to mention a number of restaurants in Morgan Hill – have provided gift certificates for the raffle. Togo’s in Gilroy is bringing sandwiches for the volunteers, and no one will go thirsty thanks to Mike Torres, owner of Water Warehouse in Gilroy who donated 310 water bottles.
Torres, who enjoys cooking for charity events so much that he had a giant barbecue custom made, lamented he had a prior volunteer engagement that day – so he’s doing the next best thing by keeping everyone hydrated.
As for the items for sale, those aren’t shabby either.
A modest sampling includes a Nintendo Wii, a washer and dryer, a brand new Le Creuset dish set, a brand new Black & Decker blender, a brand new children’s painting easel valued at $140, Tommy Hilfiger luggage, youth hockey gear, DVDs and more. A painter from San Jose has even contributed two original works of art.
“People have been great about giving us stuff that’s really sellable,” noted O’Dell, who will also be selling organic garden starters.
She motioned to one of her favorite donations – a three story, handmade wooden dollhouse crafted by a San Martin woman in her 80s.
“People are contributing one way or another,” said a noticeably exhausted but happy O’Dell, who even ordered custom T-shirts for her volunteers. “Be it baking cookies, cakes and candies or going through their garages.”
She paused midthought during a Tuesday afternoon phone conversation, making a verbal side note she’ll probably have to get another storage unit.
“It’s the humanity,” pointed out Jen Kilmer, manager of Forest Street Mini Storage at 8585 Forest St.
She donated one of the extra 30-foot units for O’Dell to store items in.
“It’s the right thing to do.”
Kilmer mentioned her daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren are abroad in Tokyo doing missionary work.
“I think it’s a great thing,” she said of O’Dell’s endeavors. “My hands go down to them.”
