The College Of The Desert Street Fair, a flea market that benefits a two-year college in Palm Desert, Calif., has raised just over $12,000 for the benefit of relief efforts in Japan. According to executive director Gene Marchu, the fund-raising effort had a special meaning for the campus community because of the exchange program that brings Japanese students to the school.
“We have about 50 Japanese students attending the two year college. Several of them came out, and we gave them a prime booth. They put up some signs and asked for donations. They raised about $9,500,” says Machu.
In addition to the money raised by the students at the flea market booth, the vendors association raised over $2,000 from market sellers. The management of the flea market contributed $500.
The fund raiser ran for three weeks in late March, staffed by the student volunteers, One of the students staffing the booth actually lost his home in the disaster. The exact amount raised was $12,035.85. “It’s going to the Japanese Red Cross through the American Red Cross,” Marchu explains.
Check out FleaMarketZone’s other coverage of the ways that the flea market and swap meet industry is responding to the disaster in Japan.
Photo credit, with thanks, KPSP-TV.