What We Do
The World’s Biggest Garage Sale (WBGS) is a massive community event – a garage sale – where people donate their unused or unwanted household goods and we resell them to create purposeful profit. We make donations from the profits of the sale of donated items to Australian charity benefactors such as The Courier Mail Children’s Fund, with our donations making a positive impact in the community through charities such as The Pyjama Foundation, and ACT for Kids.
Our events provide our community members with alternate ways to source and purchase high-quality products (such as clothing, antiques, furniture & whitegoods) at prices that are affordable. We are also proud to promote recycling and reuse within the community to engage members in more sustainable forms of shopping that diverts waste from landfill and creates a second-life for products that were otherwise unused or unwanted.
1700000
$1.7 million dollars contributed to the global economy
3300000
3.3+ million kilograms of potential waste diverted from landfill
314000
$314K raised for local charity benefactors from WBGS events
Leigh and Yas Grigaliunas
World’s Biggest Garage Sale started in 2013 by couple Yasmin and Leigh Grigaliunas as a charity event – a garage sale – to repurpose dormant goods (unused goods) in the family home and raise money for children’s cancer research. When Yas asked her friends to donate their dormant goods they did, and so did hundreds of other members of the community as word spread about the event.
Since then, WBGS have raised $314K over the past 5 years for many charity benefactors. But the events are about more than selling unused goods. WBGS connects people through sustainability and altruism to create a sense of community between event participants. It promotes the principles of the circular economy through the re-use of unused goods that risk ending up in landfill in an ever-increasing throwaway society. To date WBGS have diverted over 3.3 million kgs of goods from landfill.
Our Benefactors
WBGS are proud to donate funds from the sale of donated items to our major partner The Courier Mail Children’s Fund, and make positive impact in the community through a number of charities.
The Courier Mail Children’s Fund
The Courier-Mail Children’s Fund has been helping Queensland children in need since 1909. Established by Queensland Newspapers staff as a way to give back to the community, the Fund has evolved, expanding the number of children it helps across a more diverse range of issues while staying true to its original vision – to help Queensland children in need.
The Fund maximises its impact and efficiency by only directing its funds to registered charities that demonstrate that they have the specialist skills and knowledge to deliver high-value, life-changing programs to children in need. The World’s Biggest Garage Sale is excited to be fundraising exclusively for this wonderful fund because after all, nobody likes seeing any child doing it tough, especially a QLD one 🙂
Smiling for Smiddy
Smiling for Smiddy – Adam Smiddy was a talented triathlete and physiotherapist. Smiling for Smiddy is fighting the good fight against cancer in his name. You see, Smiddy isn’t here any more. He was cut down in his prime by an aggressive melanoma in 2006. He was just 26.
Chances are, you’ve seen for yourself how devastating cancer can be. Smiling for Smiddy’s goal is to do everything in their power to put an end to this. To date, the exclusive Smiling for Smiddy events have raised more than $5 million for Mater cancer research and support.
The Mater Foundation
Mater Foundation challenges, inspires and engages people, organisations and businesses to partner with the Mater hospitals and Mater Research, to extend the boundaries of health care and medical research.
Donations to Mater Foundation help purchase life-saving medical equipment, improve patient care and ensure our research teams continue to find better ways to diagnose, treat and ultimately cure life-threatening diseases.