Big Brothers Big Sisters of Sarnia-Lambton will host its seventh annual Spring Show and Sale at a new venue this weekend.
Fund Development Coordinator Melissa Matthews said it will be held at Lambton Mall on Saturday.
"This is a temporary location for this year because Alexander Mackenzie [Secondary School] is closed right now," Matthews said. "So, we will be inside the old H&M store, just located across from Sephora, near the Sport Chek entrance."
Matthews said the space is a lot larger than it looks.
"There's the side that was the men's clothing, and then the women's [clothing] and the kids [clothing] section in the back," she said. "So, there is lots of room and we were able to get 78 vendors in there."
Matthews said there will be "something for everyone."
"You could come do your Mother's Day, Father's Day shopping, prep for baby showers, wedding showers. [There will be] everything from pottery, to self care items, to hand made sewn items, candles, and lots of food, lots of baking," she said.
Matthews said the spring sale is the second largest fundraiser for the agency each year, behind the Fall Show and Sale.
"The admission is $7 and kids 12 and under are free," she said. "All of the vendors will be contained within the store unit and our raffle, which will be pretty huge again this year, will be in the hallway."
She said each vendor donated something to the raffle.
Funds raised from the event stay directly within the local organization and are used to operate programming.
"We've got several in school programs, as well as our community based matching program," said Matthews. "Last year, we were able to serve over 750 kids through all of those different programs."
The organization recently closed its male community-based wait list until more volunteers sign up for the one-to-one mentor program.
"The waiting list is still closed currently," Matthews said. "However, due to the publicity that we got from the community and the awareness spread about the need for big brothers, we have had over 20 applicants apply to become a big brother. Caseworkers are very busy right now screening and interviewing volunteers. So, we're really hopeful that we'll be able to get a good chunk of those boys matched here in the upcoming future."
The show and sale is scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 25.
