Annual cancer fundraiser, Breast Yard Sale in Town, runs through June 14

Alisa Patterson, Stillman Valley, arranges items for sale at the annual Breast Yard Sale in Town. Patterson is one of several volunteers who help with the sale. (Vinde Wells/vwells@shawnewsservice.com)

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OREGON – At not quite the halfway point, Ogle County’s most unique yard sale has raised more than three-quarters of its goal.

Karen Virnoche, organizer of the seventh annual Breast Yard Sale in Town, said this week that the sale had brought in $7,800 toward her goal of raising $10,000 for the American Cancer Society.

Virnoche holds the annual sale in her barn at Maple Hill Farm, 1194 Mud Creek Road, Oregon. The sale, which started May 23, continues through June 14.

“We are open every day, rain or shine, from 8 a.m. until the last customer walks through the barn doors,” she said. “We get new things every day, and there’s a lot of so nice items besides the lingerie. Maidenform donated 1,300 new pieces this year, and a new company, Essential Body Wear, also joined in with a donation.”

The annual event draws people from all over northern Illinois, as well as from many places in the United States, Great Britain and Europe.

Virnoche and her husband, James Brown, started the sale after she suffered  from – and survived – three types of cancer. She wanted a unique way to raise money for the West Ogle Relay for Life, a fundraiser for cancer research. 

“2008 was a banner year. The sale raised $9,550.10, which was turned into the American Cancer Society,” Virnoche said. “That’s why I set the goal at $10,000 this year.”

The sale got off to a great start with $5,000 raised the first day, including presales and donations, compared to $2,800 last year.

Rummage and lingerie donations arrive all year long from people, mostly in Ogle County, many that Virnoche and Brown have never met.

The name of the event is a play on words, so even though one-third of the barn is overflowing with lingerie, the rest of the barn is filled to the loft with furniture, household and yard items, collectibles, crafts, sports gear, books and much more.