When you buy something at Saturday’s garage sale in the downtown B-4 Building, you’ll be helping to clothe the needy.

The quarterly sales are virtually the sole source of regular funds for the Iowa Clothing Center that, since November, 1994, has been collecting, sorting, baling and shipping tons of clothing to eastern Europe, primarily Romania.

The clothing is donated and Center founder Levi Miller makes regular trips to Iowa City and other locations, including Missouri, to pick up bags and bags of items.

Since its inception, the key support for the Center’s work has come from the area’s Amish churches.

“There has been great local support from the Amish,” said Miller, noting that the Center’s location at 1162 Larch Ave. “is something they can drive to with the horses and buggies.”

Housed in a former body shop, the Center ships clothing (as well as fabric and comforter kits) approximately four to six times a year, mostly to help those in Moldavia and Romania. Besides the clothing, there also are baby bundles, containg items such as blankets and diapers.

In fact, Miller is set to make a trip to that area a little later this spring.

Shipping

Every shipment averages 44,000 to 45,000 lbs, with each of the bags weighing in at least 216 pounds. Cost runs at just about $10,000 per shipment.

The funds are raised from donations, offerings through church groups and the quarterly garage sales.

Unlike the typical sale, no items are priced. Instead, the buyer is given a suggested price or can suggest one. The result is that people tend to be generous, with the sales raising a few thousand rather than several hundred dollars.

Items are donated, just as the clothing is.

“There are all kinds of things that people put in,” said Miller, indicating the unsorted donation bags.

Clothing is sorted by kind, size and condition. Obviously, some items are close to the rag stage. But, a great deal is “very good, very usable.”

Especially shoes, for which there is a great need, especially men’s.

The clothing is also sorted by design, especially T-shirts, some of which have had very questionable decorations and statements.

Miller, who is retired from farming, averages at least 20 hours per week with the Center. He also regularly obtains clothing from a variety of locations, including Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. The best, often near new, “comes from Iowa City.”

He has “some help out-of-state,” he said, as well as the local volunteers. His main connection is with Christian Aid Ministries of Berlin, Ohio that has long been providing assistance abroad.

Last year, the center shipped five tons to eastern Europe.

“It depends on getting a shipment ready,” said Miller, “as well as having the money to pay for it.”

Shipments arrive in Holland where they are loaded and trucked to their destinations.

Miller acknowledges that the Center could use about double its present space, but he needs to keep it within range of the Amish.