Whether you are looking for a cheap kitchen set or a used pipe organ, the UPS Women’s League Flea Market offers a variety of items at bargain prices. The annual event, which began in 1968, will take place on Saturday, March 17 in the Fieldhouse. Though the event is during spring break, Chairperson Grace Mills hopes that some students will be able to attend.
“People come from all over, it is amazing the people that come. They line up waiting to get in before we open at 9 a.m. and many are still looking around when we are closing at 4 p.m.,” Mills said.
This year there will be over 50 vendors selling an array of antiques, collectibles, and handicrafts in booths throughout the Fieldhouse. The UPS Women’s League collects donations and offers them for sale in one of the first floor classrooms that they call “Grandma’s Attic.” The building’s transformation continues in the locker rooms, which will be full of sports equipment, garden tools and other equipment. Security Services also donates the bikes it confiscates over the course of the year for sale at the sale. Items include a church organ donated by former Swimming and Diving Coach Don Duncan and a Kindle book reader, which Mills says will be one of only a few electronic items at the event.
The UPS Women’s League uses the proceeds from the event, which costs $2 to enter, to fund scholarships for the University. According to Mills, last year the organization provided 14 students with scholarships totaling $33,600.
Senior Julie Coleman is one of the recipients of the organization’s scholarships and will be volunteering at this year’s event. The UPS Women’s League is looking for student help to move donated items to the Fieldhouse. Those interested should contact Mills at gracem4206@harbornet.com.
“These ladies have helped me pay to finish my degree for the last 3 years, in large part because of funds raised from the UPS Women’s League Annual Flea Market,” Coleman said. “No matter what I do for them or their cause, I will never be able to repay the support they have so generously offered me, including endless moral support.”
The UPS Women’s League currently has nearly 150 members, all of whom are connected in some way to the University. Mills joined the UPS Women’s League after she retired from working in the SUB Diner in 1996. She worked for Dining and Conference Services for 26 years and still meets monthly with her old coworkers to keep in touch.
“I enjoy doing this; it keeps me busy during the winter months,” Mills said. “It was a great place to work and it is a great place to be retired from.”
Group membership has declined in recent years, a trend that Mills attributes to the increasing number of students that live out of state. Mothers of incoming students are invited to join the organization every year.
