By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews
WALDPORT — Armed with her computer tablet and nine years of experience, Kitty Bone of Seal Rock roams the floor of a big blue warehouse in Waldport. She’s checking auction and retail websites, deciding how to price the artwork, furniture, glass, crystal and more coming up for sale at her “upscale resale” shop, The Unexpected Elephant.
In front of her is a Midcentury Modern designer table that one online auction house is offering in mint condition for $1,800. It’s walnut with an acid-etched copper top — but since her version is “a little rough,” Bone will price it to fly at $395.
Don’t look for it at a traditional store, though. Just take a drive to 3710 Crestline Drive, home of non-profit South Lincoln Resources. There, the Elephant will stage several sales of household goods, all from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday and four other Saturdays this summer — June 3, June 24, July 22 and Aug. 26.
“We only sell the things that don’t fit the parameters of our programs, like expensive furniture, or antiques that are fragile,” Bone says. The programs she refers to provide free food, clothing, furniture and more to low-income families in south Lincoln County.
As coordinator of The Elephant — which she created in 2014 — Bone and her fellow volunteers work hard to find new homes for the items of special value, which are donated throughout the year. The proceeds all help sustain and maintain South Lincoln Resources’ two warehouses on Crestline, where community partners Waldport FoodShare and Adventist Clothing Share serve people in need under the motto “Neighbor helping neighbor.” The site also holds South Lincoln Resource’s household furniture and appliance giveaway outlet, along with durable medical equipment, all free for anyone.
In the market for a grand vintage hutch? Some Royal Doulton tableware? Carnival glass? An antique Singer sewing machine? These are the types of items that The Elephant offers from March through August. It’s a seasonal program, stepping way each October for South Lincoln Resource’s holiday food basket programs at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
“We also have glass galore. Society needs to figure out what we’re going to do with all the vintage punch bowls,” Bone jokes.
Her solution — buy one of the several handsome bowls on display, and use it as a front-entry catch-all for mail and keys.
“The vast majority of our donated furniture gets given away free,” Bone notes, covering everyday needs like dining chairs, couches, beds and the like. But when someone donates a specialty item like a grandfather clock, it’s set aside for The Elephant’s next sale.
OK, and about that name.
“People sell ‘white elephants’ when they have something that doesn’t suit them anymore,” says Bone. “And it’s ‘Unexpected’ because it isn’t happening on the same days every year.”
From $1 to hundreds
The Elephant’s customers can find “almost anything you’d find in a house: pots and pans, crafts, picture frames, kitchenware and coffee tables,” she says, and priced from $1 to several hundred dollars. That makes The Elephant’s sales prime targets for any shopper — especially owners of area vacation homes looking for furnishings.
“We look things up on sites like Etsy, Ebay and auction houses, and then price our goods under the lower prices we find,” Bone says.
Bone, a native of Newport, began volunteering with South Lincoln Resources in 2001, when she and her husband, Tonner Hays, arrived in Seal Rock from Silverton. Hays began volunteering a year later and is now president of the nonprofit, which is in its 40th year. He’s also director of South Lincoln Resource’s furniture and appliances outlet.
“For the community, the bottom line is that Unexpected Elephant is our sustainability arm, keeping all our programs open,” says Hays. “Kitty created it, and she’s the guiding force.
Whether it’s Waldport FoodShare, or Adventist Clothing Share, holiday food baskets or our South County children’s Christmas program … all of it at South Lincoln Resources is ‘Neighbor helping neighbor.’”
As with any all-volunteer group, the groups welcomes more helping hands, more donations of goods, and more cash and tax-deductible contributions. Since the volunteer crew tends to be on the mature side, “We’re always looking for healthy, vigorous 60-year-olds,” says Bone.
Sales at The Unexpected Elephant supports all of South Lincoln Resources’ programs and last year literally included the roof over their heads.
“Last August, we put a brand new metal roof on our metal warehouse, the big one, with the money raised by Unexpected Elephant,” says Bone. Thanks to discounts from Gentry Family Construction in Salem, and Copeland Lumber, the total cost was under $70,000.
That’s a lot of punch bowls. Better grab yours soon.
- Cheryl Romano is a Yachats freelance reporter who contributes regularly to YachatsNews. She can be reached at Wordsell@gmail.com