Annie Neri, program assistant for Lawrence Meals on Wheels, talks on her cell phone and sorts clothes in one storage shed full of items donated for Saturday's garage sale. In the background are volunteers Russell Walters, left, and Allen Ross.

Lawrence Meals on Wheels volunteers have collected enough items to fill 14 storage sheds for the organization’s fundraising garage sale Saturday.

“Those items won’t do us any good unless we can convert them into cash,” said Charles Derby, the Lawrence Meals on Wheels board chairman. “So we really need a great sale and turnout.”

About 100 Meals on Wheels volunteer drivers deliver hot food to about 110 senior citizens in Lawrence every weekday. Since January, there’s been a 42 percent increase in the number of clients added to the service, either by doctor’s diet prescriptions or additional need, said Kim Culliss, the program’s executive director.

The fundraiser will be from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at AAPS Storage, 2400 Franklin Road, on the south side of Kansas Highway 10. The storage company, Thrivent for Lutherans and Professional Moving & Storage Inc. are sponsors.

Organizers hope to make between $2,000 to $3,000 to help subsidize the $4.50 meals for clients who otherwise could not afford them.

The sale will feature furniture, dryers, stoves, grills, beds, clothing, jewelry and “everything you would need,” Culliss said. Members of the public donated most of the items. Volunteers gave the rest, she said.

About 50 percent of clients cannot afford to pay the full meal cost.

The nonprofit organization also relies on its Spring Sampler auction for funding along with donations, memorials, grants and money from the Older Americans Act, Culliss said.