Volunteers Donate Time This Holiday Weekend to Collect Donations For Upcoming VNA Rummage Sale

About 100 local volunteers will donate at least part of their Labor Day weekend to begin the collection of donations that will provide sale items for the fall rummage sale that is a major fundraiser for the Visiting Nurse Association of Somerset Hills. The volunteers will be at the Far Hills Fairground in Far Hills to collect donations from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 4, and Monday, Sept. 6.

Volunteers will continue collecting donations during those hours daily, except for Sunday, through Sept. 22, said Marie Sperber, the VNA's director of development and marketing. Sperber said the volunteers, including many from Basking Ridge and other Somerset Hills towns, are donating their time because they feel the VNA sale is a worthy cause.

The rummage sale is scheduled to be held from Oct. 1 to 3 at the fairgrounds off Route 202 and Peapack Road.

Those donations, which bring in clothing, sports equipment, furniture, valuables such as silver or designer clothes and unusual  items that no one expects, later are sorted into 25 departments for a rummage sale that attracts thousands, Sperber said. She said clothing, small electrical items in working condition, toys and household items are especially popular.

The sale organizers do not accept upholstered furniture, mattresses or artificial Christmas trees, she said.

For more information about the kinds of donations accepted or the sale, visit www.visitingnurse.org   For information on volunteering, call  908-781-6445.

The sale is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Friday & Saturday, Oct. 1-2, and from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 3. Each year, thousands of bargain hunters from multiple states attend the sale.

The fundraising sale, which has been ongoing for about 90 years, supports several programs for the Basking Ridge-based VNA, which provides services in Somerset and Morris counties. Sales are 100 percent staffed by volunteers, Sperber said. She said about 400 volunteers likely will participate in some aspect of organizing or staffing this fall's sale.

"Thanks to the overwhelming community assistance, through volunteerism, donations and sales, and the support of the residents of Far Hills, the rummage sale has become an enormously important fundraiser for the VNA of Somerset Hills," said Evelyn Prather, the VNA's chairwoman of the Board of Trustees.

All proceeds from the sale help the VNA support the nonprofit agency's home healthcare and hospice programs, and also care for community members who are uninsured or underinsured, Prather said.

Some of those services supported by the sale include charity care, respite programs, visits by telephone, support for the VNA's Adult Day Center in Basking Ridge, community outreach programs, community health assessments and flu shots, Sperber said.