By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

New York Mills students are gearing up for the 13th annual Kids Garage Sale, which will be held on Saturday, May 3 from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. in the High School gym. This sale raises funds for the NY Mills Parents Nest, a Parent-Teacher Organization which helps cover costs of a variety of opportunities for students and teachers alike.

The event will host a number of booths where families will be selling their gently used items. Admission to the event will be $1 per adult and all children 12 years old and under will be free. The proceeds from the admission and cost of the booths will go to the Parents Nest.

“We had nine booths last year and this year we’re up to 16 people who have registered,” said organizer Katlin Schaefer last week. “So that’s a nice improvement. There will also be a table there to donate New York Mills Eagle-wear, gently used Eagle clothing.”

Schaefer took on the organizing responsibilities this year in hopes to give back to her community and get to know it a bit better at the same time. She is hoping to see a good turnout at the garage sale this weekend.

“I’m looking forward to having a good outcome,” she said. “Lots of people. There’s going to be a lot of clothing and having kids myself, I know just how fast they grow out of things and how gently used some of those things are, so it will be nice to see it go to a new home.

“I’m hoping to see that our numbers continue to grow from year to year as word spreads and that we have a positive outcome from it,” she continued. “That we’re able to raise more money for the Parents Nest, because they really do a lot for the kids within the school. Donations going to the Parents Nest are used for different activities for the kids, whether it’s prom, school activities, funding for clothing for sports and sports fees, all sorts of things. I’m hoping to see it continue to grow and maybe next year we’ll have to use the Activity Center instead of the high school gym.”

Schaefer has coached elementary basketball in NY Mills and was told by a parent about the annual garage sale. To help bridge the divide to having a deeper connection with her community, she decided to volunteer to help this year. She and her husband plan to raise their family in the community and are glad to be a part of NY Mills’ “Small Town, Big Life.”

“It’s helping me get a little more familiar with people out in the community and some of the events and my husband is a police officer in NY Mills, so we’re just trying to be more involved because that’s the community that our kids are going to grow up in and we plan to stay, so it’s nice to see that a small community does have a variety of things going on.”