LAST year, Lisa Mingo and her family held a garage sale in the front yard of their West Vancouver home, and made a whopping $4,000.
The family wasn't moving or trying to downsize. The event was a fundraiser for a rare genetic blood disorder, and the family donated 100 per cent of the proceeds to a research fund. On June 16 and 17, the family will hold another jumbo, multi-day garage sale.
"The main way that the foundation raises money is through friends and family of people who have this disease," said Mingo, a resource manager at ICBC.
Mingo's son Dylan, 5, was diagnosed with fanconi anemia when he was five months old. People with the disease often require a bone marrow transplant when they are children, and are at a highly increased risk of developing certain types of cancer
throughout their lives.
Mingo is anticipating Dylan will soon have to have a bone marrow transplant, but so far, no family members are a match. At the garage sale Mingo, armed with a laptop, will be asking bargain hunters to sign up for Canadian Blood Services' OneMatch bone marrow and stem cell registry (www.onematch.ca). "It involves filling out a questionnaire, and then OneMatch will mail a kit out to people so they can provide their saliva swab so their details can be put into the database," said Mingo.
While her son's disorder is rare, Mingo said raising funds for the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund (www.fanconi. org) has far-reaching benefits for many diseases. "Any money that goes into this particular disease helps advance the medical science behind stem cell transplants, cures for cancer, all those related things," said Mingo.
Mingo is still accepting donations of garage sale items, and there will also be baked goods on offer for hungry shoppers. The event takes place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., June 16 and 17 at 5736 Cranley Dr., in West Vancouver.
