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Timmins' Mountjoy United Church holds garage sale to stay open

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TIMMINS -

During its extended pandemic closure, members of the Mountjoy United Church in Timmins told CTV the church had not received many financial donations and wasn't able to hold fundraising events.

Currently at risk of being unable to pay its bills, forcing the Project Love charity that operates in its basement to relocate, the church decided it was time to hold a garage sale now that COVID rules are loosened.

"(Project Love has) money so that people can eat but they won't have a home if we can't pay the bills," said church member and Project Love volunteer Marlice MacLeod.

The church and charity gathered enough community-donated household items to fill a garage and invited people to the 'pay-what-you-can' event, which included a bottle drive.

Considering Project Love's reliance on its rent-free space at the church and since many congregation members also volunteer at the charity, organizers said it was a joint effort for a common cause.

Veteran volunteer Diane Rust said the fundraiser is just another example of how well the church and charity work together.

"We're really interconnected," Rust said.

"They help us with certain things and, of course, we help them any way we can. It works out really well, we've got a really good group."

The fundraiser garnered a larger turnout than organizers expected, though enough items were leftover that they decided to hold extend the garage sale to Sunday.

And so she hopes more people come to clear out the remaining items at 377 Waterloo Road between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m.

MacLeod noted that while Project Love has been receiving donations, the church does not use its funds as they are needed to buy food for feeding those in need.

"When they come in to buy something, whatever they donate to us will be donated to put on the bills, so that Project Love has a home," MacLeod said.

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