Not Your Ordinary Tag Sale—

Neighbors And The Community Give A Family A Lift

By Shannon Hicks

At one point last Saturday, Rhonda Timmons’ husband turned to her and said, “You know, this is way more than a tag sale. We’ve put on an event for people to come to.”

Rhonda and Jeff Timmons live on Quarry Ridge Road, and their neighborhood pulled together to present a fundraiser for fellow neighbor Kenny Ayles and his family last weekend. The neighbors raised funds to help the Ayleses, who learned recently that Ken has been diagnosed with brain cancer. A tag sale/bake sale/silent auction on October 4 and 5 raised more than $7,500 for the family, who is hoping to get to Disney World in December.

Mr Ayles has not been able to work since July 1, when an accident while he was driving eventually led to the discovery of the tumor that may take his life, and wife Jennifer has temporarily become a full-time homemaker.

When friends and neighbors learned that Kenny wanted to get his family to Disney World for Christmas, the wheels started turning. Quarry Ridge Road residents spent time cleaning out closets and garages for a multifamily tag sale, neighbors spent time baking, and items were collected from local businesses and residents for a silent auction, with all proceeds from all sales going to the Ayles family.

Even some of the younger residents were actively involved in the fundraising. Caitlin James and Heather O’Hara set up a face painting table, and by the end of the weekend the girls had collected $82 for their efforts.

“I was really proud of them. They sat there all day and just painted away,” said Rhonda Timmons, one of the event coordinators. “We had an excellent, excellent day. It was awesome.”

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, if a little chilly, and the weather helped pull in a steady crowd of tag sale enthusiasts. Homemade baked goods, coordinated by high school freshman Rebecca Greenawalt, awaited anyone who wanted a snack while shopping or who just wanted to bring home a tasty treat. There were donations from Andrea’s Bake Shop, Blue Jay Orchards, and Dunkin’ Donuts, and plenty of homemade cookies, brownies, pumpkin bread, caramel apples, as well as coffee and apple cider, both iced and hot.

“She did an amazing job,” Mrs Timmons said of Rebecca’s efforts. “She really did great.”

Members of Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company Junior Corps also spent their Saturday on Quarry Ridge Road, with two of the department’s fire engines parked and open for visits.

While showers early Sunday and continued overcast skies meant Sunday was a little less busy than Saturday, Mrs Timmons said the event continued nevertheless.

“We were in a quandary at first, but we ran around and got some tents and decided to go forward with our plans,” she said. “We used our pool tarp, and jacked it up, and people saw it from the top of the road so they came down to check it out.

“We still made money on Sunday. I’m glad we stuck it out for the second day,” she said.

At least 15 families planned and presented the two-day event, with even more people showing up on Saturday and Sunday to offer items for the tag sale.

Neighbor Bill Keeler spent the weekend using his truck to shuttle some of the larger tag sale items to their new homes. In addition to the Timmonses, Greenawalts, and Keelers, the following families were also involved in the planning and presentation of last weekend’s event: the Berg, Conrod, DeWald, Drew, Freedman, Godin, Hanson, Jones, Kanaan, Keeler, Mansukhani, Rana, Romano, Van Buren, and Yang families.

“As each day went on people came and brought things to put into the tag sale, or the bake sale. It wasn’t just our neighborhood, it was people from across the community donating things to sell, which I also thought was amazing,” Mrs Timmons said.

If people weren’t coming to donate items or buy anything, they came just to make a donation.

“People were so generous. They were coming up to us saying ‘There isn’t anything I need today, but I want to give you some money.’ They came just to donate.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, the collection was at $7,500 with more donations promised and a poker tournament yet to be played by the men of Quarry Ridge Road.

“The community really stepped up,” continued Mrs Timmons. “It was more than I imagined, how generous people would be, especially in this economy right now. People were very giving.”

Kenny and Jennifer Ayles were right in the middle of everything on Saturday. Olivia and Braydon, their children, were playing with many of the toys and games that were being offered for sale, running around in the sun with many other neighborhood children, while their parents visited with neighbors and met many of the people from the community who showed up to support the fundraising efforts.

“I think seeing him here with his family helped a lot,” Mrs Timmons said. “They got to see, and meet, the people they’re going to help.

 “I was proud to be part of this.”