Everybody Wins: How Donating Items helps Nonprofit

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Date: Thursday October 6, 2011 07:41:28 am
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    Everybody wins: How donating items helps nonprofits

     

    Feed And Clothe My People & Thrift Store volunteers, from left, Margaret DeVault, Betty Gales and Jean Smejkal separate donated clothing items for resale and recycling.

     
    Feed And Clothe My People & Thrift Store volunteers, from left, Margaret DeVault, Betty Gales and Jean Smejkal separate donated clothing items for resale and recycling. / Tina M. Gohr/Door County Advocate

    Misty Lanrich, a young Sturgeon Bay mother, was thumbing through the racks at the 14th Avenue Thrift Shop in Sturgeon Bay last week looking for a Halloween costume for her child.

    "They use it once and then it’s done," Lanrich said.

    Lanrich is often at the rear of the shop making donations to Feed and Clothe My People, 204 N. 14th Ave., Sturgeon Bay. After Oct. 31, the Halloween costume will likely find its way back to the store.

    "What’s nice is it’s low budget but anybody can come here. And it puts money toward food for Feed My People," she said.

    Mary Cochart, Brussels, a self-professed garage-sale nut, said shopping at the thrift store is both entertaining and convenient.

    "Instead of running from street to street at rummage sales, why not come here? This is a one-stop shop," Cochart said.

    She also recycles, dropping off the old and picking up new things. She likes the $1 price for her husband’s work clothes. As a welder, his clothes often need replacing, she said.

    While Lanrich and Cochart were shopping, Elise Denil, Sturgeon Bay, was unloading acar full in the rear. The thrift store received many items from Denil’s late mother’s estate.

    "I like to keep it in Door County for local use," Denil said. "I have furniture in my vannow. I’m taking that to Habitat the next door down. It saves me a trip to Green Bay to Goodwill."

    Door County’s Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore, a block away at 410 N. 14th Ave., takes large appliances, furniture and computer equipment. Denil also drops things off at Sunshine House, which partners with Goodwill of North Central Wisconsin. Sunshine House, 55 W. Yew St. in Sturgeon Bay, takes in items from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.

    Feed and Clothe My People also takes in nonperishable food for its pantry, which is one of the reasons Lucy Roske of Sister Bay donates there.

    "It’s such a worthy cause. I can’t bring food, so I bring stuff," Roske said. "I just downsized, and I have so much of everything. I can turn this stuff into cash to help other people. I’m grateful these people have figured out a way to tap in with people who don’t have it. It’s a good way to do fundraising."

    Roske spreads her donations among several nonprofit thrift stores, including the Sister Bay resale shop, Bargains Unlimited on 10560 Applewood Road. Proceeds from Bargains Unlimited benefit residents and staff of Scandia Village Senior Living Community in Sister Bay.

    The store lists specialty items on the websitehttp://www.bargainsunlimited.org. Two currently featured are a bridal statue selling for $700 and a Charles Peterson painting for $1,600.

    Bargains Unlimited and the Matthew House in Egg Harbor both accept donations of high quality furniture as well as a variety of household goods.

    Nonprofits partner to recycle

    Any unsold items in Sister Bay make their way to the Sunshine House in Sturgeon Bay, which picks up from Northern Door on Wednesdays, adding to their stock in Southern Door. The 14th Avenue Thrift Shop also sends unusable clothing to the Sunshine House. A semitrailer load leaves the Sunshine House every two weeks for a fine sort at Goodwill in Appleton, where metal is recycled and textiles are made into rag stock for foreign countries, said Dave Swingin, production manager of Sunshine House.

    Some donations that appear to have been set aside too long and are moldy are thrown out, Swingin said. But about 95 percent of the material they receive is usable.

    "Most of the clothing is just beautiful," he said. "Some of it is new."

    A donation to the Sunshine House provides training for developmentally disabled employees who sort and prepare clothing for the Goodwill semi. Items are weighed, and Sunshine House is paid by the pound.

    "It does give work for developmentally disabled," he said, "but mainly we started this to keep things out of the Door County landfill."

    That was also the primary motivation behind Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore, which has kept 200,000 pounds from going to the landfill since the store opened two years ago.

    E-waste can be locally donated

    Habitat’s ReStore began accepting electronic waste in Sturgeon Bay in June. The new service is so popular, a third semi is being loaded, according to ReStore manager Leslie Boden.

    For a $5 fee per item, people can drop off a television, computer, monitor, printer, phone or microwave and the agency takes it to the Janesville ReStore processing plant, where the waste is recycled.

    "They can be sure any files left on their computer are safe. The Janesville center also does recycling for the FBI, so no one needs to worry about any problems with identity theft or anything like that," Boden said. "The sad thing is we’re already recycling flat screens. Some are still in the box and less than two years old."

    The ReStore is the only Door County charity that accepts e-waste. It is also the only nonprofit that recycles metal and accepts appliances.

    Large and small appliances in good condition are resold at the ReStore Thursday through Saturday. Non-working appliances are recycled except for those containing freon, such as refrigerators andair conditioners.

    ReStore volunteers also pick up and deliver furniture and appliances for $10 in the city limits or $25 anywhere in Door County.

    Volunteers needed

    "We’re desperate for pickup and delivery drivers," Boden said, given the ReStore’s growing popularity.

    Volunteers are the backbone of these nonprofits, but those backbones are older than they once were. One volunteer at the 14th Avenue Thrift store has been donating her time since the center started in 1982. She now is in her 90s.

    Denil, who made donations to two organizations in one day, said, "We’re very fortunate to have these places in Door County. And I applaud the volunteers that dig through all these bags every day."

    Marilyn Beyer, store manager of Matthew House in Egg Harbor, whose profits help developmentally disabled Door County residents, asked that workers are kept in mind when preparing donations, as overloaded boxes and bags can be difficult to move.

    "I can’t help them take things off a truck, and it’s hard for me to get some things inside," Beyer said. "It’s just a little ol’ lady — me."

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