Ray and Dorothy Miller began lifting Heifer’s visibility in 1978 with huge yard sales. The parking was filled with tables piled high with clothing, collectables, etc all at bargain prices.

For the first two sales, items were collected and stored for two months prior to the sale. By the third sale in 1980, collection and storage began four months prior to the sale. With space limited, some items began to be stored in West Sacramento in a semi-trailer owned by a member of the congregation. Shortly after sale #3, Dorothy suggested collecting year-round. By sale #4, the proceeds had exceeded $10,000. Contributions for the sale came from churches through-out the county. They were collected, stored and sent to Saint Mark’s in time for the sale. Stores in the community contributed overstock items. Everything was categorized and displayed so well that some shoppers found it easier to shop at the Saint Mark’s yard sale than at a store!

The two-day sale required filling the parking lot with tables. Volunteers spent the night before the sale in RVs to watch over the merchandise. Cars filled the surrounding streets and some parked at Country Club Plaza and walked the three blocks to the sale. By 1987, proceeds from the sale had reached more than $23,000. Income from ten years of sales exceeded $120,000.

The community chipped in with added events. “Souper” Christmas offered lunch and sale of seasonal decorations after church service. “Mission Shoppe” was held annually for five years to sell Heifer t-shirts, cookbooks, Christmas cards, etc. and to provide alternative gift ideas of an animal or a share of an animal. “Rally for Heifer” was a mixed-doubles tennis tournament organized by Jane Henderson at El Camino High School to benefit Heifer.

Heifer adopted a new theme in 1995, “An Ark for Today’s World” — each ark contained 30 food-producing animals at a cost of $5000. In both 1995 and ’96, Saint Mark’s was able to purchase an ark. Sunday school children contributed coins in plastic ark banks. Children were sponsored for the number of books they read in the “Read to Feed” program. Youth groups held car washes and collected aluminum cans. Over 100 churches from the greater Sacramento area gathered at La Sierra Community Center for “Hunger Attack” — sales, silent auctions, donkey cart rides, goat milking contests, lunch and a variety of animals on display, all to benefit Heifer. Over the decades, Saint Mark’s contributed several arks!

Names you might recognize who enriched the broader community with compassionate acts through Heifer projects are Lori White, Vic and Patti Massagli, Rosemary Erlewine and, of course, Jane Henderson. Many others contributed as well.

Barbara Eychaner, Historian