Do you shop at thrift stores?  Do you donate to the charitable ones?

I don’t shop at them because it’s just too time-consuming.  The odds of finding exactly what you want at a thrift store just aren’t good odds.  I have two objects in my house that came from a thrift store. One is a tiny dish I found at the Rescue Mission store and the other is a  pillow I bought at the Discovery Shop.  The pillow had a very attractive Chinese graphic and looks great on my sofa;.  When I showed it to my Chinese friend, he said the graphic was just something made up, but it looks cool anyway.

I used to donate exclusively to the Discovery Shop, not sure why. (The Discovery Shop is the Cancer Society store in Henderson Center at 2942 F Street,) I stopped giving to them because they just make it too hard.  You have to negotiate a packed parking lot to access their drop-off location, which is accessed (and I use the word loosely) by climbing up an unstable ramp without handrails. If you make it to the top, you have to ring a bell and hope someone answers. More than once I had to lug my donations all around to the store entrance on F Street. Unsat!

Then I found out that the Eureka Rescue Mission Thrift Shop (1031 Broadway, next block down from the main Post Office) has a painless drop-off.  You just turn right off Broadway to go around in back of the store and a couple of helpful people are always there to help. Now THAT’S user-friendly!!

In closing, I’ll put in a word for Anglin Second Hand (2016 Broadway).  Although it’s not a charity endeavor, it feels like one and it’s everyone’s favorite junk store.  If I were looking for furniture I’d be sure to check them out.

In our low-income community, these stores fill a critical function, so donate and support them when you can.  Happy Hunting!

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