Woman Hopes to Turn Trash to Treasure for the Poor

Paying for a home with money raised from a yard sale may seem a like a stretch, but it’s not out of reach if the house on the market is selling for $2,600. That’s all it takes to move a family living in poverty on the island of Jamaica into a cozy new home built from the ground up.

With that thought in mind, and with the holidays quickly turning the corner, one Georgia woman came up with an idea of doing something different this year. It’s an idea, she says, that resulted from of a life-changing trip to Jamaica.

Sara Nix is a 43-year-old woman who lives in the quiet town of Dallas, Ga. She’s a wife and a mother of three children, but last December Nix suffered a devastating blow when she gave birth to a baby boy who did not survive. Four days after the delivery, she suffered heart failure and had to wear a defibrillator vest for several months.

In April, Nix says she decided to go on an eight-day mission trip with Food For The Poor to Jamaica, where she helped with the construction of two houses in St. Elizabeth. She says reaching out to others helped her to heal from her pain.

“God’s grace was so amazing!” said Nix. “It helped me so much, and it allowed me to get up and go help other people.”

With the support of her family, Nix decided to dedicate this holiday season to the memory of her son, whom she and her husband named Luke. Nix says building a home for a family in Jamaica for Christmas is a tribute to him, and a blessing for someone in need.

“With the love of my family, and the support of my spiritual family at Fortified Hills Baptist Church, we decided a yard sale would be a great way to raise the needed funds to build a home in Jamaica. The holidays are supposed to be about helping others,” said Nix.

The yard sale is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 19, and Saturday, Nov. 20, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 95 Valleyside Dr., Dallas, Ga. Nix says they still need merchandise to sell; if you have items to donate please call (404) 663-5549. All unsold items will be donated to charity.

Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.