Published July 12. 2022 01:04PM
The 2022 Boutique at the Rink cancer support fundraiser is in the books. After a two-year lay-off due to the COVID pandemic, the huge yard-sale style event held at the city’s municipal ice skating rink returned with a bang.
Donations of clothing, housewares, gardening items, shoes, jewelry, toys and more overwhelmed volunteers to the point that the donation drop-off period had to be cut short by several days before the donation period was scheduled to end. For several weeks, volunteers, 277 of them who gave over 11,000 hours of their time, processed and sorted through community donations to turn the ice rink into a mini department store for shoppers.
A premier night May 31, followed by a full-price day, two one-half price days and a bag day gave customers an opportunity to find many good deals, and raised over $252,000.
The Cancer Support Community, St. Luke’s Cancer Center and St. Luke’s Hospice share equally in the distribution of the sale’s proceeds.
Co-chairs for the event were Janet Binsau, Carol Jacoby and Barbara Vinci. Volunteers were treated to a luncheon courtesy of St. Luke’s University Hospital on June 8 at the Northampton Country Club, where Boutique at the Rink raffle winners were announced.
Volunteers accept donations from area residents in front of the Municipal Ice Rink on Illick's Mill Road.
press photos by dana grubb Donated items are sorted by volunteers inside the ice rink building before being sent to individual departments out on the rink floor.
Volunteer Mary Jo Reed of Bethlehem moves donated items to their designated area. She and her husband Ron were two of the 277 volunteers who made the event successful.
A group of volunteers sort through a stack of donations in the women's wear department.
When the gate opens, customers enter and take from a limited number of shopping carts to begin their search for bargains.
Boutique #6: A long line of shoppers awaits entry into the boutique on the first half price day.
Tiana Thomas of Bethlehem shops on premier night. It was her first time shopping at the boutique and she was looking for clothing from the early 2000's.
Boutique #8: Shoppers swarm the housewares department on Premier Night.
Indra Price said she and her husband shop the boutique regularly. The Bethlehem resident said she was interested in women's clothing and everything she could find for their toddler.
Checking out with their purchases, Denise and Jess Grello from Bath said they come every year and enjoy shopping on bag day in particular.
