Despite Some Changes This Year, Operation Hope Tag Sale A Success

FAIRFIELD, CT — Operation Hope still saw great success with its annual tag sale this past weekend, despite spreading the sale across the entire town this year for safety reasons related to the coronavirus pandemic.

There were more than 30 households that took part in the initiative, which consisted of individual people holding tag sales at their homes instead of the traditional enormous single sale behind First Church Congregational of Fairfield.

“It’s going good,” said Andrew McKinnis, an intern with Operation Hope, who helped conceive of the plan for the sale, which took place Saturday and Sunday.

“I went around and visited a bunch of sites,” he said. “And they were all very happy.”

People from all over town took part, with the largest concentration throughout the southeast quadrant of Fairfield. Each participant paid a $25 fundraising fee to Operation Hope, and then was encouraged to consider donating a portion of the proceeds to the pantry.

All kinds of items were made available, and those who wanted to shop at the sale were given a list to help them decide where to start their search.

“I thought people might be frustrated by all the driving around, but somebody told me it seemed like a scavenger hunt to them,” McKinnis said, with participants mapping their route according to what they wanted to buy.

Toys, books, housewares, large and small furniture, and clothes of all kinds were among the items noted for sale at different addresses, along with some items that were more specific, such as a baby high chair and crib, a grill, Xbox games, Lego sets and more.

More significantly, McKinnis discovered as he asked around that many people were already intending to donate the entire profit from their individual sales to the nonprofit.

“Most people have told us they are giving 100 percent of what they make, which is awesome,” he said.

In some cases, this amount was already around $300 for some people after only the first day.

“Ordinarily, we give them a lot of donations when they do their August tag sale,” explained Susan Kunkel, manager of The Carousel thrift store at Southport Congregational Church.

This year, however, The Carousel was taking part as one of the satellite sale sites, and also contributing above and beyond the expected fee.

“We will give them a percentage of our sales today,” Kunkel said, plus at least another $150 from one large item sale they had.

On behalf of Operation Hope, McKinnis expressed his thanks to the town.

“The community has just been so great in supporting this,” he said.