Volunteer

Volunteer registration will open Saturday, July 15 @ 8am.
 
Running a successful consignment sale can only happen if there are many dedicated volunteers ready to lend a hand. We utilize a minimum of 300 volunteers at each sale, so we need your help!

Why volunteer to work a shift at our sale?

As an Otter Creek Sale volunteer, you get in on the BEST consignment shopping in Middle Tennessee. Give us a total of 4.25 hours (4 hours, 15 minutes) and you gain the opportunity to shop our sale floor before anyone else-- including the consignors.

We believe helping others is the most important aspect of volunteering to work a shift at our sale. All of our proceeds go to fund the children and youth ministries at our church as well as ministries that help children here locally and around the world. When you work at our sale, you help us raise money to fund programs that literally save and change lives of children. That's a job worth doing.

For more information on the ministries we support, visit here.

If you are pregnant or you are physically unable to work, consider volunteering “your man” to work in your place. Let him come set up or tear down and you can still shop early.

We hope you'll choose to be one of our incredible volunteers!  It will a be an enjoyable time working with friends- new and old- knowing that all your effort is going toward many worthwhile causes.

​Volunteer Registration for the Fall Sale will be available through this page beginning at 8am on Saturday, July 15. If you have questions regarding volunteering, please email volunteers@ottercreeksale.com

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Volunteer roles

Below is a list of the most common jobs you might be asked to do during a shift at our sale. You will receive complete and detailed instructions concerning your job when you arrive at the volunteer check-in area.
  1. Set-up-- setting up racks and tables; designing floor layout, organizing items on the floor
  2. Screen-- screening clothing and items for the floor, looking for recall items
  3. Sort-- hanging clothes/placing items out on the floor at drop-off; sorting consignor index cards; gathering clothing and items at the end of the sale. You might also be asked to sort the tags that we return to the consignors.
  4. Secure-- monitoring/patrolling the floor, checking receipts at the door
  5. Straighten-- keeping the floor organized and neat, clearing out the discard racks
  6. Sell-- cutting tags in the check out area, helping shoppers locate items on the floor

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Volunteer Shifts

PRESALE
If you like to organize, hang, sort, and tag items-- this shift is perfect for you! This is the shift where we transform the gym into a consignment sale heaven in just a few short hours.

Racks are assembled, tables are set up, signs are hung, and we organize the sale floor so that we’re prepared for our first consignor drop-offs the next morning.

*Please note-- this is NOT a shift for those who are pregnant or have other physical limitations.
DROP-OFF
Our consignors choose one of eight drop-off times to bring their items to sell. If you choose to work a one of these drop-off times you will either be a screener or an item placer.

Screeners are assigned a station where they assist one consignor at a time, screening each of the items brought. We need good eyes to catch all stains or flaws, and to pull any items that we cannot sell so that the quality of our sale remains high.

Item placers hang, sort, and place/distribute all items out on the sale floor in the appropriately marked areas.
SALE
Working during the actual sale is quite an adventure! There are many jobs that must be done quickly and done well in order to keep things running smoothly once the sale begins and the public comes to shop.

Some of the jobs you might be asked to do during the sale:

  • check out line worker-- cutting off tags and counting items
  • floor organizer-- straightening and monitoring the sale floor (we pride ourselves on having a highly-organized, neat sale!)
  • door monitor
  • discard rack maintainer- putting back clothes into their proper places
  • holding room monitor-- supervising where clothes are being sorted by the shoppers
  • lost tag finder-- looking through our lost tag board and matching up items with the lost tags
          and many more.... This is a shift for those who aren't afraid to jump in and get to work.
SORT and PICK UP
When the sale is over, we have to “put humpty-dumpty back together again” in a very short amount of time! All the remaining items must be sorted and re-grouped according to consignor identification number and ready for pick up before we leave Saturday night. Although a daunting task, we have developed quite a sorting system through trial and error over the years to accomplish the job.

At the pick up shift on Sunday, workers escort the consignors to their remaining items, check the lost and found area, and then to collect their check and tags.
VOLUNTEER YOUR MAN
What if you want to shop early, but you are physically unable to work a shift for us? Perhaps you are pregnant and you’d be miserable working on your feet, but you really want to get in on the great buys?

Then, our “men only” shifts that we offer might provide you with the best way to get an early shopping pass!

These shifts are labor-intensive and require heavy-lifting and moving of racks, so we prefer to have men during these critical set up and tear down times.

Volunteer your man by signing him up to work a total of 4.25 hours that you choose from the “men only” shifts found at the link below, and then YOU can come shop early with us during the worker early shopping time at 10 am, the Thursday of sale week.

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Early Shopping

PictureThursday, August 24
Otter Creek Sale volunteers who pledge to work a minimum of 4.25 hours are invited to shop early on Thursday, August 24, from 10 am- 2 p.m.

All volunteers are also welcome to come or return to shop later on Thursday evening at any point after 5:30 pm.

Volunteers who have met or will meet the 4.25-hour requirement will have their names on a door list and will be verified and given a wristband before entering.

Only one worker is allowed entrance, but you may specify or give your early shopping spot to whomever you wish. Please communicate this change with our volunteer coordinator well in advance of the early shopping time to insure the new name is added to the list.

Minors ages 10-17 may enter with a volunteer. Please note that children under 10 years of age are not allowed into this pre-sale shopping time on Thursday.

Child/Infant Policy at Early Shopping

No children under 10-- including infants/babies in slings or strollers-- are admitted into the sale during this pre-sale shopping time on Thursday.

This is our busiest, most congested time, and it makes things much easier and less chaotic to have this policy in place. We thank you in advance for your cooperation with this policy, and we appreciate the efforts you make to find child care for your children during the early shopping time. Any children under 10 will be turned away at the door during pre-sale shopping on Thursday.

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