Students and teachers at Orcas Christian School say they’re excited to be hosting their sixth annual garage sale on Oct. 8 and 9 in the OCS gymnasium.

Money raised at the sale helps fund the school’s yearly mission trips. Past service trips have been conducted in Yakima, Wash., Costa Rica, Mexico, and Peru.

“There are many really cool things for sale every year,” says Sierra Haugen, an OCS eleventh-grader. Added Aliviah Garcia, also in eleventh grade, “I just love seeing so many people come and join in the fun.”

For this spring’s mission trip, OCS students and teachers will spend March 4-17 in Costa Rica. They will spend the first week studying the area’s science, and the second week in a service outreach project at an elementary school, teaching, building, and distributing clothing and food.

Organizer Dawn Parnell says that all the work is worth it, “because making this service trip a reality impacts the lives of our students and instills a commitment to lend a helping hand far from home, as well as making a difference in our own community.”

The students and parents have been collecting items for many months, and say this year’s sale will be the largest in the history of the school.

“Each year donated items from our community friends add to the quality of our garage sale,” Parnell said. “We couldn’t do it without the help of our town.”

The garage sale will run from 5 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8 to allow community members involved in Sunday activities to participate. The sale will continue on Sunday, Oct. 9 from 12-4 p.m. Items can be donated at the high school office between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily.