Showing posts with label Thrift Store. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thrift Store. Show all posts

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Thrift Shop Yard Sale Begins at 9:00 am tomorrow!

Lots of great deals! It's rain or shine so everyone's welcome. Weather permitting, we'll have lots of goodies on outside tables as well as inside. Look for the big bright yellow sign. Our address is 3130 W. Old Andrew Johnson Hwy., Strawberry Plains, TN 37871

It runs from 9:00 am -3:00 pm. Tell your friends.

Bring an empty ink jet cartridge or cell phone and receive a $1.00 coupon to use at the sale. No limit! No purchase necessary to redeem. The more phones/ink jets you bring the more you save.

See you tomorrow!

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Client Graduated, A+ Festival, Mental Health Matters & More!

Saturdays are always busy but today was over the top!

The Strawberry Plains Strawberry Festival was great! We raised over $400 and ran out of hot dogs. Many people took our brochures and domestic violence information. Volunteers, Annie, Brad and Martha served up the best hot dogs in downtown Strawberry Plains!

I set up our display at the Mental Health Matters event in Dandridge. This was sponsored by the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church. What a great lineup of workshops! It was good to see so many people looking at the problems of mental health. Many, many thanks to the folks who agreed to take care of our display after I dropped it off. It enabled me to be in two places at once.

Back in the Strawberry Plains at the festival the parade kicked off at high noon. Two of our kids rode the parade route in a 1942 Ford Fairlane. Boy, did they enjoy that! Thanks Tommy driving your car on our behalf!

After the parade I dashed to our thrift shop. The parade staging area was set up right in front of our store. This gave our volunteers there a bird's eye preview while making it impossible to get into our lot before the lineup pulled out. Two great volunteers, Gwen and Nita had everything under control.

Running back and forth between the shop and the food both were a total of 9 teen volunteers. Rachel, Adam, Doug, Charlie, Brittany, Chelsea, Clay and Aaron. One teen volunteer, Sam, came to help for an hour before she had to go into work.

It was a long day and a lot of hard work. But it was worth every minute.

Why do we do all of this?

The graduation of Carter High School was held Saturday night. As soon as we started to run out of hot dogs again we closed the booth so we could get there. We saw clients walk across the stage, other clients sang in the choir and another played in the band. I'm so proud of all of our kids.

One teen was worried that no one would see her graduate. Her family was recently torn apart by domestic violence. Those of us with Hope for Healing.Org cheered loudly as she took her diploma. She knew that someone was there to support her.

Another teen was homeless and staying with whomever would take him in. His situation makes it difficult for him to get a job. There is no public transportation in rural areas. It is a requirement that graduates purchase a cap and gown if they are to walk across the stage. For some of us $25 may not be much. For a homeless student it's a million. We made it happen. After graduation he hugged me and held on saying that without our help with the outfit and other things he would not have graduated. We all need help from time to time. I'm glad that we were there to believe in him.

Today was an amazing day. If you have donated to us or bought an eBay item, gave your time, or supported us in any way you made hope happen.

We couldn't do it without you.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Strawberry Festival and Mental Health Matters

Tomorrow we've got a multitude of things going on!

First, it's the Strawberry Festival. We'll be set up and selling the best hot dogs you can find in downtown Strawberry Plains. Look for us in front of the United Methodist Church under the big green and white canopy. We'll be selling our raffle tickets for the gas grill too! The tickets are only $1.00 and the funds will help us out.

After getting things set up at the festival we're off to Shady Grove United Methodist Church in Dandridge, Tennessee. The Holston Conference is hosting an event called Mental Health Matters. There's a full slate of great workshops lined up. We were honored when Diana Brown Taylor suggested we bring a display. If you get the chance to come be sure to check our her workshop.

And of course, at Secondhand Hope, our thrift shop, the bag sale is still in progress. Tomorrow is the last day so you better hurry. It's $2 for everything you can stuff in a bag. With summer coming now is the prime time to stock up on shorts, tees and everything in between.

Today was a great day! We had three kids serving court ordered community service and a returning junior volunteer who stayed with us after completing her mandatory hours. They all worked hard. By this time tomorrow we'll have some neat new shelves up which we can fill with merchandise.

Come admire the kids' handiwork when you get a chance. We're very proud of them!

C-ya online,
Gayle

$2 Bag Sale Going On Now

Grab a bag. Stuff it full. It's only $2. The only exclusions are formals, jeans and jewelry. At these prices it's hard to go wrong! Volunteers are standing by. Come on down!

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Angel Food+ Thrift Store + Bible

Angel Food went great! Sixty Six boxes were distributed. We had 6 Junior Vols helping today! Four kids performed community service and six adults gave time. This is a record Angel Food crowd for us. The distribution went smoothly. All of the kids did a good job. Way to go team!

I have to share about something that happened at the thrift store today. It's one of those moments that makes us remember why we're here.

A lady (we'll call her Jane) her son and his school age daughter came in to shop. They've not had the best of luck lately. The son had to move back in with his mom after losing his job. He's had a hard time finding something but is actively looking. Jane is a domestic violence survivor who walked away after living with it for 25 years. A short while ago she had surgery and is still recovering. Jane is no stranger to hard times. But none of that matters today because it's special. She was shopping because her other son was getting married - in less than 5 hours!
She didn't have a dress to wear and they had less than ten dollars to buy one with.

A volunteer and I went to work. In less time than it takes to type this we found two possible dresses. One was a soft, ivory creme with a sash that tied in the back. The other was beige with glitzy sequins and a matching jacket. Both were georgous! Our volunteer found shoes in her size that would go with either dress. Faster than your head can spin we whisked her off to the bathroom so she could try them on. It's hard to tell who was more excited her son, the granddaughter, Jane or us.

When Jane emerged from the bathroom to ask our opinion we couldn't believe our eyes. The volunteer and I drew in a deep breath as our mouths dropped open. She stood here hesitantly for a minute. Then, her son that had come with her let out a whoop of delight. The soft ivory dress looked great on her but that wasn't what we all noticed first. What we saw was a woman transformed! Her smile lit up our store. She was as radiant as though she was the bride herself.

Wow!

Over her protests, we gave her the dress and shoes.

She was very grateful and promised to bring pictures to show us later. I tried not to get teary and almost make it. Almost.

Under her arm was something else. We sent a new Bible as a gift to the young couple. She said her son had been raised in a Christian household and would welcome the gift. We gladly gave it to her.

We can't wait to see the photos. Mostly, we can't wait to hear what a great time she had at the wedding. We are sure she had the time of her life. Jane came in looking for hope. She found it. When she left, Jane was walking on air.

Thank you for making that happen.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Angel Food Tomrrow!

Don't forget to come pick up your food boxes tomorrow. Distribution is from 10:30 - 11:30am at Strawberry Plains United Methodist Church and not at the new office location. The boxes will be pre-filled. Plenty of help will be on hand to carry them to your car. Volunteers are always welcome too. If you have time you are welcome to join us. We'll have extra hot dogs available for lunch!

The Thrift Shop will be open during regular hours.

See you in the morning!

PS Don't forget. Lifetime will be airing A Life Interrupted: The Debbie Smith Story at 9:00pm EDT tomorrow night. It's a great movie! (Watch it and you'll see what I mean.) More information was previously blogged here &/or you can check out the Lifetime website.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

New Thrift Store opens today!

The moment we've been waiting for has arrived. Our new thrift store opens today. Several volunteers will be on hand to help. Come on in and grab up some bargains!

Our prices are:
Jeans $4
Shirts/Blouses $3
Tops $1.00
Men's Suits $10.00

We're still getting ready to head to DC. Between this and the store opening I'm not sure if we're going or coming! Martha, Gwen and our terrific volunteers will be holding the fort down here while I'm away. Come see them. They'll be glad to talk with you.

Did I mention lately that we love our volunteers?

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Picking up the keys to our new digs.

Today is the day. I still can't believe it's finally arrived. I have to call our new landlord later this morning to arrange a time to pick up the keys. The office is moving! The building is small but will do for us for now. We could not have asked for a better location. Being right next to the school will make it more convenient for our clients. Having a small thrift store will help our bottom line, help us add staff and provide job training skills. There's a lot to do so I'd better get moving.

First things first, where did I pack that phone number?

See ya online,

Gayle