Overstocked nonprofit to give away wares Saturday

Community First, a Bluffton nonprofit group that aims to help low-income families in Beaufort and Jasper counties, has enough donated clothing, toys, household items and school supplies to fill two full rooms in its May River Road building.

Leaders are happy to have the items, but there's one problem: Storing them consumes valuable classroom and meeting space.

So instead of waiting until they have time to hold a yard sale, group members will give the items away this morning.

"We have so many things. We just want to get rid of them so they won't go to waste," Community First assistant director Luci Mitchell said.

Community First gets new donations every day, executive director Pearla Harvey said. Most of the items to be distributed today have been collected over the past three months, she said. Many of the toys -- most were donated by Dollar General in Okatie -- still have the tags on them, she said.

Mitchell said people don't need to meet specific income qualifications to pick out items today.

"Come one, come all. You just have to have need," she said. "And be courteous to one another. Don't take more than you need."

Harvey said she's thrilled the donations will be free for people who need them.

"Oh gosh, it just fills my soul to be able to do it, especially when the economy is so, so bad," she said Thursday. "It's so needed now. People can't buy clothes like they used to. They don't have jobs, their hours have been cut. This is a time when our society really needs something like this."