Going to a yard sale is almost always a fun experience. It comes with unique opportunities you won’t be able to find in big stores. Plus, there are tons of bargains!
One woman from Arlington, Virginia sets up a unique yard sale each year.
Before the actual event, Susan Thompson-Gaines collects old clothes, jewelry items, toys, and other things from her neighbors. She uses those items to hold a massive yard sale.
At first glance, you’d think that there’s nothing special about her yard sale.
However, when you take a closer look, you’ll realize that the items have no prices on them. People can go and get what they want. She simply asks them to donate whatever amount they see fit.
The amount of money people give varies.
Some people are generous enough to pay $230 for a simple stuffed toy; others pay just a couple of dollars for a dozen dresses.
Susan doesn’t mind.
The reason she started her annual yard sale is to spread kindness. In fact, she uses every single penny she earns from it to do an act of kindness.
At one point, they were able to buy camping gear for a young boy who had never experienced leaving the city. They were also able to buy a fetal Doppler for a pregnant woman. Her husband wasn’t able to hear the heartbeat of their child while she was in the hospital due to COVID restrictions.
Susan’s group paid for a woman’s DMV fees. She was struggling to get the title of her deceased father’s car into her name and what Susan did helped a lot. They’ve also placed flowers on the graves of veterans and delivered Christmas gifts.
Susan is very careful when picking the kind acts.
She knows that the money she’ll use to pay for them isn’t hers. It comes from various people with different values and beliefs.
In her first year, her yard sale was able to raise just over $1,700.
That’s after she cleaned out her own cabinets. In the following years, she started accepting donations. People in her community donated random items like toys and clothes. Others volunteered to help her sort and tag the items.
This 2021, Susan’s Kindness Yard Sale was able to raise over $11,000.
In an interview with The Washington Post, she shared:
“This year, it was just like an army of people saying, ‘I’m here, what do you need?’ People will say, “How did we do today?’ It’s become a community thing, which I love.”
Susan has done so much for other people, and she doesn’t have any plans on stopping anytime soon.
She believes that talking more openly about kindness and actually being kind encourage other people to behave in the same way. She sees it as a form of activitism.
During an interview with CBS’ Steve Hartman, Susan said:
“It’s made me overall a more happy person.”
On a blog, she wrote:
“Yes! I am a vigorous advocate of KINDNESS! I hunt for it. I appreciate it. And, whenever I can, I SPREAD IT!”
Watch the entire story of Susan’s yard sale in the video below!
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