Good stuff goes cheap at community yard sale

The Fort Myer Military Community is a place where Soldiers and civilians busily go about the Army’s business during the week. On lovely spring weekends the community part of the post’s title is emphasized.

Last Saturday visitors flocked to the post thrift shop, commissary and the PX. Some folks stopped to get their cars washed by members of the Better Opportunity for Single Soldiers (BOSS) program in the Memorial Chapel parking lot.

Bargain hunters had a chance to find some bargains on one of the post’s oak tree-dappled streets. Lisa Yenter, an Army wife for 26 years, stood in front of her Lee Avenue home with tables full of bargains.

‘‘What aren’t we selling?” she asked. ‘‘Toys, clothes, household items, a prom dress; it’s yours for $10. I’ve always done yard sales. You can make a couple of hundred dollars on a good day.”

Sgt. 1st Class David St. Pierre and his wife Karen set up a table next to Yenter’s since their residence is tucked away behind the Clothing Sales building.

‘‘Two grown kids have moved out in the last month,” David St. Pierre said. ‘‘Here’s a $50 desk and night stand for $15, perfect for a kid’s room. We’ve done tag sales at a flea market and you do pretty well at those because you get a lot of traffic.”

Lorry Ryan and her 1-year-old daughter, Campbell, stood in front of their recently vacated Lee Avenue home.

‘‘We’ve just moved out but we left stuff for the yard sale,” she said. ‘‘We haven’t had a whole lot of traffic. The rest of it is going to the thrift shop.”

Patricia Shamburger, a military spouse for 21 years, traveled from her Kingstown home in search of bargains while her husband was out of town.

‘‘I bought an electric turkey fryer and odds and ends for almost $30,” she said. ‘‘I got something for my husband to do. I got a car full. I’m going to the thrift shop and check that out.”

Dee Spellman of the Executive Management and Housing Office and her colleagues had a bake sale originally in front of Bldg. 416 to raise money for the Old Guard’s Delta Co. who will be returning from the Horn of Africa in a few weeks. There was no traffic near Bldg. 416, which the housing people share with Delta Co., so they moved the baked goods to the thrift shop parking lot.

‘‘We’re raising money so when Delta Co. comes back they have toiletries and soap and things,” Spellman said. ‘‘We’ve got a lot to do to get ready for them. All items are under a dollar.”