Flea Market Season!

Amidst merchants hocking second-hand baby toys, clothes, furniture, DVDs and more, Lauren Wang and Tara McMahon were selling goods for something a little less tangible.

Education.

More specifically, Lauren, 10 and Tara, 11, both of Bryn Mawr, came to Horsham's fifth annual flea market Saturday with 300 home-baked cookies, books, clothes and other items to sell in an effort to raise money for various organizations which provide educational opportunities for children and adults - particularly girls - in Africa, Afghanistan and all over the world. 

"We've been doing it for five years," said Tara, of the girls' collection efforts, which began when the fifth-graders were in kindergarten. "Last year, we earned $500. One of our friends' father is in government and he matched it for us."

On Saturday, after only two hours at the booth set up outside Horsham's community center, nearly all of the chocolate chip, white chocolate chip and M&M cookies that the girls baked with their mothers were gone. Several people handed the girls 20 dollar bills for the 50 cent cookies and told them to keep the change for the various charities. 

"I want to educate girls," one woman said to Lauren and Tara. 

As for why the girls would want to spend their day in the chilly outdoors peddling cookies and goods, Tara said, "just to help out. To make the world a better place."

And to succeed in their efforts, Lauren and Tara support organizations, such as 10x10 girls.

"What the girl learns she takes to her community and she spreads it," Lauren said. 

At nearby , the Hatboro Rotary Club sponsored a flea market aimed at raising funds for the various organizations that the local rotary supports, including the , the , local Boy Scout troops and scholarships for seniors, Rotary President Jonathan Riches said. 

Event organizer and Hatboro Rotary Club secretary Dave Hower said the flea market, in years past, generated $2,000 to $3,000.

"Everything we raise goes to charity," Riches said of the club's $15,000 annual fundraising and charitable donations.