The garage sale was crazy, but it was a good crazy.

The kids promised to sing every time someone made a donation and to dance whenever it was a big donation. They were singing and dancing all day long.

The summer camp for kids with heart conditions was saved.

When ATA shut down, staffers for Camp Taylor, which is based in California, were left with worthless airline tickets to Hawai'i. The cost of replacement tickets for 25 people — staffers and teens with heart conditions who serve as mentors to the littler kids — was $18,000.

The Kardiac Kids, a family support group that meets at Kapi'olani Medical Center, tried to raise money with a garage sale and recycling drive in Mililani on April 12. Jullie Passos, parent and volunteer, said the families were determined save Camp Taylor one 5-cent recycled bottle at a time.

"One man showed up with a whole heaping truckload of cans," Passos said. "It turned out to be $200 worth of recyclables. He met the kids and talked story with them. Some of them showed him their scars. And then he gave them a check for $1,000 from Gima's Termite and Pest Control."

Passos' son Keegan, 10, has a huge scar like a centipede down his chest from three open-heart surgeries. He and his fellow Kardiac Kids danced and sang while his mom fielded phone calls and thanked all who stopped by.

One call came from a corrections officer who asked if he could swing by with a crew of OCCC inmates who would be weed-whacking on the side of the road in the Mililani area.

"I was like, uh ... OK," Passos said.

Late in the day, the crew showed up with a donation of $100 from the inmates and a matching $100 from the corrections officer. The kids sang their Camp Taylor song and "Oh, their faces just lit up in the truck," Passos said.

"Then a man from a Kailua bed and breakfast came by with a big check. He told the kids he had had open heart surgery when he was 8 years old."

The Kardiac Kids raised $14,000 for the airline tickets. Just yesterday, Aloha Care pledged a donation of $7,000.

The kids are working on thank-you notes for donors who left names and addresses.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.