Big Sandy rummage sale set to help medical facilities

Big Sandy Medical Guild is organizing its annual big fundraising event for this year, the 2019 Rummage Sale, to raise funds for Big Sandy Hospital, medical clinic and nursing home, organizer Lisa Sipler said.

The rummage sale will be Thursday through Saturday and will include a raffle and a pie and coffee sale, she said. She added that the guild is expanding the event this year from two days to three days. 

The event will be open Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at the Jerry Martin Memorial Hall.

All of the items at the rummage sale are donated from the local community, she said, including the pies, which will be sold at $3 a slice. She added that all of the money raised will go directly back to help fund either the hospital, clinic or nursing home.

“Every year it amazes me Big Sandy can accumulate a hall full of stuff to donate,” Sipler said.

The rummage sale includes items such as furniture, baby items, kitchen items, books, anything people are willing to donate, she said. All of the items have been donated from local businesses and individuals. The event will also feature a raffle Friday at 3 p.m. She said the raffle will include hand-made items such as afghans and quilts, which were donated by a few of the local women and Christmas wreaths.

“They’re just beautiful,” she said.

The local grocery store also has donated a number of gift cards, she added. People can still donate items until 5 p.m. today, she said.

Sipler said the event would not be possible without the volunteers the guild has, who organize and sort through all the donated items. She said that many of the volunteers have to stay on their feet all day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., carrying boxes and helping to keep everything organized.

She added that the guild has been hosting the rummage sale event for a number of years, the first one taking place in the mid-1960s. The medical guild is a volunteer-based foundation and has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars since it was first created. She said that last year the event was able to raise more than $10,000, which was used to purchase items and equipment at the medical center.

Sipler, who has also been an employee of the Big Sandy Medical Center since 1997, said that her favorite part about the event is seeing where the money is going and knowing people are using it.

“My favorite part is when something is purchased for the facility, whether it’s a wheelchair or a new bed or maybe something for the activity center or an intravenous pump,” she said. “When I see those items, and knowing how hard everyone worked to get that, that’s such a huge reward. It’s such a joy to see all that hard work and being able to see it first-hand working here at the hospital.”

She added that other communities are welcome to come to the event as well. She said that in the past people from the local Hutterite colonies, Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation, Havre, Loma and Fort Benton have all attended the event.

“It’s nice to see support from outside our community,” she said. “… It’s such a huge undertaking.”