The BIG Sale was started in 2000 by a student, Natalie Knight, who realized the large amounts of "trash" that students were throwing away at the end of the school year.  She started by collecting items herself and donating them to OASIS, a domestic abuse shelter.  The volume of stuff became too much for her or OASIS to handle so she hooked up with a group called Dump and Run, a national organization that helps organize events like The BIG Sale on college campuses. 

The following year, in 2001, was the inaugural BIG Sale in the form that it is today.  The first sale took place on Duck Pond Field and raised $3342.27 for Watauga Department of Social Services Foster Care program. 

See how The BIG Sale has grown over time:

2002: $3100 for Watauga 4-H

2003: $3700 for Stop the Litter! Initiative

2004: $5300 for Mountain Alliance and for New River Earth Institute

2005: $6300 for Legal Aid of North Carolina (Boone) and High Country Amigos

2006: $7100 for Juvenile Crime Prevention Council and Hospice

2007: $10,400 for Ashe County Partnership for Children, Hunger and Health Coalition, The Children's Playhouse, and The Hospitality House

**2007 marks the first year of the "Go Green to Save Green" mini-grant program for improving energy efficiency in the facilities of our community partner organizations.**

2008: $11000 for Mountain Pathways Montessori School, Mountain Alliance, WeCAN, and Legal Aid of North Carolina (Boone)

**Beginning in 2008, in addition to the energy efficiency mini-grants, proceeds from the BIG Sale also contribute to an on-campus fund established to promote international service-learning.**

2009: proceeds will benefit the Health and Hunger Coalition, The Children's Playhouse, Mountain Alliance, and Sugar Grove Developmental Dayschool