STRONG – A nine-day yard sale to benefit Relay for Life is under way on Mary and Stephen White’s Route 4 front lawn.

Lots of help, numerous donations and the ability to give the profits to a needed project keep the Whites and their son, Patrick Kenney, busy all year collecting items to sell from now until Aug. 17.

The three came up with the idea to hold a large yard sale and donate the profits to something different each year, Mary said.

This year’s sale, held to coincide with Phillips Old Home Days, marks their fifth year of work, she said. The project benefits Relay For Life this year, but other recipients have included families with sickness or whose home has burned, cancer patients, and scholarships. Last year, a donation was given to the Strong Fire Department to purchase uniforms, she said.

Opening at 6 a.m. or as soon as she can, each day will run until around 7 p.m. or as long as people are there, she said. Items are sold on a “reasonable donation basis” eliminating some of the tedious marking required for the items scattered across her yard.

White plans to replenish items daily with a building full of “lovingly used items” collected from people as far away as Sabattus, Fryeburg and Massachusetts. “When someone offers a trailer load of items,” she said, “we’ll go get it.”

Items that are not sold during the next eight days will be given to the ATV Club in Strong, which holds its own yard sale on Labor Day weekend.

“It’s a lot of fun and a win-win situation,” she said, “but I can’t do it alone.”

Volunteers help as they can throughout the nine-day sale, she said.