Ballard Senior Center’s rummage sale

In a small room upstairs at the Ballard Senior Center, Bea Castona and Pat Fleury have been working hard for the past few months. They’ve been organizing donated clothes, glassware, jewelry and even empty perfume bottles, getting ready for the center’s summer rummage sale.

Pat and Bea are here almost every day of the week. They wash the clothes, they shine the jewelry, and they organize everything. The donations come in from all over; they even have a volunteer who goes to garage sales as they’re ending to pick up what hasn’t sold. Bea says it’s not unusual to get four or five large bags of donations a day.

There are odds and ends stacked high on tables and chairs. On a rack behind Bea is an assortment of clothes: swimsuits, dress shirts, and coats. “Once in a while we get some fun things,” Pat laughed, as Bea held up a figure of a goose in a pink dress.

Carlye Teel is the director of the Senior Center, and she says they usually get nearly $4,000 per rummage sale. The money then goes to fund programs at the center such as exercise classes, socializing events, and even healthcare sessions.

The rummage sale is three times a year, and it draws hundreds of people from Ballard and surrounding areas. “We’re known for having really nice things,” Teel said. “We might get whole sets of gorgeous china, we might get old perfume bottles, you never know what you’re going to get. It’s a huge effort, and these ladies are fabulous,” said Teel with a smile.

The rummage sale is June 10 and 11, at the Ballard Senior Center (5429 32nd NW). It will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday June 10, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday June 11.

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