Dear friends,

Happy spring! It's also garage sale season, and we began this season of renewal and recycling by celebrating the third annual Goods for Good – The Great Northfield Rummage Raid for Charity April 30 and May 1.

The event was a huge success with 28 sale sites collectively raising over $14,000 for various charities. People who hosted sites were able to simplify their lives by getting rid of unwanted items, volunteer their time to organize a sale and raise money for their favorite charities. People who shopped where able to purchase things they needed or wanted at affordable prices and discover hidden treasures. Charitable groups, clubs, churches and other good causes received donations of new money that didn't take away from any other existing fund-raising efforts. Bottom line is, everyone wins!

Here is a recap of the sale site results:

1. Sharon Henry raised $40 for the Skatepark and her grandson's refreshment stand raised $12 for Hatian relief.
2. Beth Kallestad raised $125 for the Cannon River Watershed Partnership.
3. Collegeview Townhome Association raised $200 for the Community Action Center.
4. The Moravian Church raised $225 for Haitian relief.
5. Northfield Police Department employees raised $652 to help fund the DARE program.
6. Katy Hargis and Julianna Sayner teamed up to raise money for the Northfield YMCA and Y Camp Menogyn. They made $350 from their sale, which will be matched by Julianna's husband's employer, resulting in a total gift of $700 ($350 for each organization).
7. Mamie Tuma and her daughter raised $589 for the Humane Society.
8. The Collen family raised $210 for the Community Action Center.
9. Project SIGHT's sale raised $60 for their programs.
10. Elementary student, Levi Hurlbert, raised $30 for the Community Action Center from his refreshment stand.
11. The Union of Youth raised $686 selling land fill destined items gleaned from the Northfield Clean up Days and gave the community a preview of their new location.
12. The Nevada Court neighbors raised $220 to help support the TORCH (Tackling Obstacles and Raising College Hopes) program at the schools.
13. The St. Dominic School site raised $2,450.
14. The Northfield Evangelical Free Church raised $1,665 for their youth programs.
15. Sheila Atkinson, who has participated in Goods for Goods all three years, raised $40 for the DARE program.
16. The United Methodist Church raised $1,600 for women's missions.
17. Girl Scout Troop #2266 raised $75 to fund an environmental project.
18. The Three Links Care Center partnered with 5th Bridge for the first time and raised $1,166.60 at their annual rummage sale (up from $600 the previous year).
19. The Swan McDonald family raised $168 for the Heifer Project.
20. The Hospital Auxiliary Book Sale partnered with 5th Bridge and Goods for Good for the first time and their sales were up by $1,000 from last year!
21. Women in Action, a group of women who do monthly family friendly service projects, raised $555.35 for the 5th Bridge's upcoming Feed My Starving Children food-packing event in Northfield.
22. Katherine Baty raised $350 for the Community Action Center's Christmas Sharing program and her friend raised $270 for her church youth group.
23. The Morris family raised $200 for the Community Action Center.
24. Lisa Ash and hers kids raised $62 for the Food Shelf.
25. Sara Route and her friends raised $273.93 for the American Cancer Society.
26. Nevada Court neighbors also hosted a refreshment stand to benefit the TORCH program.
27. The Clothes Closet held a special storewide half-price sale and raised $410 and saw a number of first-time customers.
28. The Malt-O-Meal Cares plant sale was added to the map and given a Goods for Good sign at the last minute. We don't know what impact the Goods for Goods traffic had, but they got at least one new customer ... me!

Many of the sites donated a small portion of their proceeds to 5th Bridge (totaling $260) to help us off-set the costs of promoting this event. Thank you!

Left over "goods" still went for "good" as they were donated to the Lupus Foundation, or were given away free to someone who needed them.

If your family, book club, sports team, church, non-profit organization, or neighborhood didn't get the chance to participate in Goods for Good this year, mark your calendars for April 29–30, 2011 and plan on participating in the fourth annual Goods for Good – The Great Northfield Rummage Raid for Charity. Also keep in mind that you can host a garage sale anytime and donate the proceeds to charity.

Thank you to all the sale site hosts, volunteer Therese Kitzman, Northfield News (help with ads), AgStar Financial Services (celebration sponsor), Tim Jackson (webmaster), Northfield United Methodist Church (meeting space) and all the other people who made this event possible.

Check out all the Goods for Good photos and look for other great volunteer opportunities on our website www.5thbridge.org.

Candy Taylor and your friends at 5th Bridge