Fowlerville Mini Storage in Michigan Collects Donation Items for Charity Sale

Fowlerville Mini Storage in Fowlerville, Mich., is serving as a drop-off location for a community-based garage sale on March 29. The third annual event will benefit the Maison Z. Wilkinson Scholarship Fund, established in honor of eight-year-old Maison Wilkinson, who died in 2006 when he was accidentally run over by a Waste Management Inc. truck. He was a third-grader at Kreeger Elementary School in Fowlerville.

The garage sale will be held at Fowlerville Junior High School, 7677 Sharpe Road, and will include a silent auction, raffle and bake sale. The self-storage facility at 7074 E. Grand River Ave. will accept donations from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 22 and 23.

It is the first year Fowlerville Mini Storage has participated in the event. Nelson’s Mini Storage, 9177 W. Grand River Ave., in Handy Township, Mich., donated units for the cause during the first two years of fundraising. However, Nelson’s was full this year and unable to participate, according to Maylene Wilkinson, Maison’s mother and the fundraiser’s organizer.

Last year, the foundation collected enough donations to fill three units. This year, it may need one more, Maylene Wilkinson says. “Every year, we get so much more stuff.”

Maison Wilkinson’s love for soccer led family and friends to establish the scholarship fund, which provides a college scholarship to a senior soccer player at Fowlerville High School, according to the source. The 2012  event generated $7,000 for two scholarships, one each for a female and male athlete.

The garage sale will be hosted again this year by the Fowlerville Junior High School’s Friends of Rachel group. Named in memory of 17-year-old Rachel Scott, a victim of the 1999 Columbine High School shootings, the organization’s programs include Rachel’s Challenge, which encourages school-age children, teachers and parents to create programs that advocate safety and anti-bullying.