As Father Eric stated in his annual address, one of the main sources of the outreach money given by St. Luke's Church is the Thrift Shop. When I think about the income we generate, I am truly astounded. Eighteen Thousand Dollars! WOW! The ability to give that much money to local charitable organizations, feels like a miracle.   The thank you letters we get back verify that our contributions matter. We have a few expenses like telephone, utilities, and supplies but all other income is donated to local charities. Our focus is on the organizations that help children or the elderly.

We often jokingly call ourselves "The Boutique on Pine Street," and to some extent that is true. The merchandise we sell must be clean and in excellent condition.   Even though we do not sell everything that is donated to us, we throw out almost nothing.   Community Helping Hands is glad to receive items that are less than perfect. Some donations are stained or torn. We do not even throw those out. The Humane Society will take them because they can sell them. So our sales are only the "cream of the crop" of the donations but everything that is not ruined still goes to help a local charity.

Most of our items for sale cost less than $5. Can you imagine how much merchandise we move to generate more than $18,000?!?! Every item that comes in is sorted. Out-of-season items are folded and stored. In-season items are inspected for problems that can be solved. Taking out wrinkles with a dryer that was donated to us is a big problem solver. Some clothing may not meet our cleanliness standards but volunteers often take these things home to wash them. They also often make small repairs. Once an item is considered acceptable, it receives a price tag and is put out on the sales floor. This gets done for more than 4,000 items a year!

How can YOU help us? First, you can donate clothing and small household goods. A crew works on receiving every Tuesday morning but we will take donations anytime we are open or by appointment (call any board member or the church office). Second, you can shop with us. We offer great bargains on high-end clothing and very often have items that are New-With -Tags, as they say on eBay. Third, we always need bags with handles that are larger than grocery bags. The bags the recent phonebooks came in would be most welcome. Fourth, your monetary donations are always gratefully accepted. And last but NOT LEAST, you can volunteer to sort, sell, or both.

                        Thanks for your time, Sandi G