Recycling center sells hundreds of porcelain collectibles

PALMER — After today, it’s going to be lonely for Lea’chait Ann, the Landfill Waif at the Valley recycling center. That’s because hundreds of her friends are finding new homes this weekend.

The unofficial mascot for Valley Community for Recycling Solutions, Lea’chait Ann stands tall on a filing cabinet overseeing a room stuffed with others like herself — porcelain dolls. Some are large, some small, some sit in perfectly crafted small chairs and cribs waiting for new homes. All are part of a VCRS fundraiser to sell the dolls.

A donation from a former business owner who wanted to remain anonymous, hundreds of never-played-with fine collectible dolls and accessories are priced to go, said Mollie Boyer, VCRS executive director.

“They’re very nice,” she said. “They’re valued way higher than what we’re selling them for, I can tell you that. We want to find good homes so people can do good things with them.”

The liquidation will also free up needed space at the recycling center, Boyer said. The collection has been moved around a considerable amount over the past couple of years.

Families and collectors can purchase large dolls for $10 each or a set of a mother with two infant dolls for $15, Boyer said. There are also bulk discounts. That’s a fraction of the estimated $100 each is worth, she said.

“We’re not really in the doll business, and it’s been challenging storing this stuff,” she said. “You want to treat them as the valuables they are, but we’re a recycling center. We’re into baling stuff up.”

In addition to the collectible porcelain figures, there’s a large selection of clothing and accessories available as well, even tiny stuffed animals for the dolls to play with.

While it brings out the inner child in many to view and handle the collection, VCRS’ connection with dolls began about 18 months ago with Lea’chait Ann, Boyer said.

“You know, I think this is my favorite story,” she said. “Close to our first ‘Hello Dolly’ (fundraising) event, we had another event and folks went out and cleaned up stuff. As part of that, we cleaned along the new power line that goes to the hospital.”

As Mat-Su Carbon Crew volunteers cleaned up trash from just outside the Mat-Su Borough Landfill boundaries, “somebody found a porcelain doll on a stand that had blown out of the landfill,” Boyer said. “She wasn’t broken or anything, and she’s just great. I brought her up to the recycling center.”

That a delicate thing like the doll could not only survive unscathed, but still be in its stand “is a testament to how precious things are,” she said, adding that while all the donated dolls are finding new homes, the Landfill Waif will remain.

By the way, the mascot’s name, Lea’chait Ann, comes from the word “leachait,” which Boyer describes “as that watery mess that’s generated from the landfill.”

Recycling center supporters have been perusing and purchasing dolls since Friday evening, Boyer said, but there are still plenty left for today’s last day of the sale, noon to 4 p.m. Someone has also offered to take all the unsold dolls and accessories, if there are any.

And if you think having the run of a room full of porcelain dolls is a little girl’s dream, you’d be half right, Boyer said.

“Actually, I would say it’s appealing to more of the little girl in older women responding to these dolls,” she said. “Because they’re porcelain, they’re not something you’re going to be playing or snuggling with. They’re collectibles. And you would be amazed how excited some of our senior citizens are over these dolls.”

Contact reporter Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.