Charity event at Moorestown church marks 100th year

Sally Bishop can recall a time when, in the late 1980s, she took Helen Champlain and Mary Green out to lunch. The two sisters, who were in their late 90s at the time, were among the women who  had started a rummage sale at First Presbyterian Church in Moorestown years before to benefit local charities.

During the lunch, Champlain and Green spoke of hanging clothing for the rummage sale on lines from tree to tree in the church yard on Main Street, and remarked how, even in the 1980s, the event had come a long way.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the sale celebrated its 100th year at First Presbyterian, though there was not much fanfare surrounding the milestone except for discreet mentions of it on some signs.

Unlike that first sale, in 1917, the event is now held indoors in the church's Fellowship Hall and Commons Building at its current location at Bridgeboro and Riverton Roads, said Bishop, 71, who was one of the volunteers working there.

The rummage sale has become a staple of the 129-year-old First Presbyterian, with dozens of tables filled with donated items, event chair Gayle Payne said. The sale is organized each year by the church's Women's Group.

This year, proceeds from the event are to be donated to 15 mission organizations in Burlington and Camden Counties. Leftover items will be  given to other local charities.

The church, which has about 1,200 members, had 50 volunteers help prepare for the event this week. Church members and  other community members dropped off donations at the church throughout the week.

"All volunteers find a purpose. Some of the men make sure donated electronics work. I help sort the linens. Others help with jewelry and accessories. We want to have an organized presentation," Payne said.

Clothing, shoes, baby items, household items, linens, jewelry, books, and donated electronics were just some of the items for sale.

On Wednesday, donated sale items were sold at specific low prices. On Thursday, during the last-chance bag sale, shoppers could fill bags at a set price with as many items as they could.

Payne said the church hopes community members in need especially benefit from the practical finds at the sale.

"As coordinators, we always try hard to have a welcoming atmosphere during the sale to create and maintain a positive atmosphere. You never know what circumstances some are coming from," Payne said Thursday, just after she had asked an elderly browser if she needed help carrying out her purchases.

Bishop and Payne, both of Moorestown, have been involved with the sale since they joined First Presbyterian in the 1980s. Their involvement with the sale is worthwhile, they said, because it allows them to keep giving back to the community.

For shopper Earlene King of Pennsauken, the sale is a way to find clothing she described as "the good stuff" for her family, which is why she's attended the sale for a half decade. King fished through women's shirts, putting some in a large, black garbage bag as she remarked, "This sale always makes your day."

Later Thursday, volunteer Bob Fisher came in from the cold after helping a woman load her car with her finds, remarking how touched he was by her gratitude.

"You could just tell she was not very affluent and told me all about how her items were all things she could use. 'I'm just so happy with this, bless you,' she said to me," said Fisher, of Williamsport, Pa. "It really gives you such a warm feeling inside."

Payne says donated items often have a story. One woman, who was downsizing, donated several curtains she said she was no longer going to use. On a nearby table lay coasters from a 40th class reunion of the 1945 graduating class of Moorestown High School.

"Now, they're going to be used by someone else who needs them," she said. "That's how this all works -- everything that happens at this sale is meant to help someone else who needs it. That's how it's been for all these years."