Posted: Friday, November 2, 2012 4:00 am | Updated: 12:15 pm, Fri Nov 2, 2012.

By Jessica Ferguson jferguson@news-journal.com

Longview Habitat for Humanity will auction contents of its resale outlet at 303 W. Tyler St. on Saturday.

Celebrity auctioneer Walt Cade of A&E’s “Storage Wars: Texas” will open bidding at 9 a.m. and will continue until all items are sold.

Cade, a Facebook friend of Longview Habitat for Humanity Executive Director LaJuan Hollis, came on board with the auction after Hollis messaged him with the idea.

“He’s really great about helping out non-profits,” Hollis said. “He’s a big fan of the ReStore anyway.”

Hollis came up with the idea of doing the auction after touring the facility.

“We had so many items that we could not display because of lack of space… and said ‘we need to do a clean sweep of all this.’”

One fun way to do that, Hollis said, was to hold a live auction.

The auction will include about 75 items ranging from from flat-screen televisions and doors to wall art and wooden signs.

“We’ve got a little something for everybody,” she said. “We’ve even got a bathroom sink.”

All items were donated to the ReStore by residents, businesses and organizations in the community throughout the year.

Merchandise will be sold as is.

Hollis said the organization hopes to raise enough money to buy a 16-foot box truck.

“We don’t have a box truck, and it’s a real hindrance to us. If we get a very large donation that we need to pick up, we have to rent a truck or delay pickup.”

With the addition of the box truck, Hollis said, the store would be able to pick up more donations and raise more money for building homes in the community.

The net profits from the ReStore go into building homes in the community, but some of those funds have also had to be used for truck rentals.

Box trucks usually range in price from $16,000 to $23,000, Hollis said.

The auction is open to the public. Bidders can register and browse the auction items from 7 to 9 a.m. Cash, Visa, Discover and Mastercards will be accepted for payment.

Habitat for Humanity is still in need of volunteers for tomorrow’s auction.

via Habitat for Humanity to hold live auction – Longview News-Journal: Local News.