By Ryan Patrick
CSS volunteer
I volunteered the other day at St. Louise Gift & Thrift in Lincoln. By that, I mean I told Katie I had some free time and she said “You should come to CSS, because I have things you can do!”
I wasn’t able to stay long, but I spent some time in the store room, helping to organize and put out some product, but I was easily distracted, walking around and looking at the shelves and stacks of goods waiting their turn for placement out front. I’m a nerd for history and nostalgia anyway, but I marveled at the books and games, glassware and furniture. The history these items have seen, and the love and enjoyment provided by their previous owners. Now, here they are waiting for their chance at a second life.
I saw a glass Garfield mug like the one I used to drink orange juice out of in the mornings. As a child I had no idea why that cat would hate Mondays, and now as an adult who realizes Garfield didn’t have a job, I still don’t know. I saw an older edition of the board game Mouse Trap that still included all the pieces (the current version you buy in the store has been simplified and they removed the fun pieces that were the real reason we played it!).
There were plate and bowl sets that could tell tales of family dinners and recipes handed down through generations. Crosses, rosaries, sacramentals that have helped to give hope and faith to many. Stacks of baby and kid clothes that a mother probably cried over, smiling about how cute her little one looked in that outfit, proud that he or she is now obviously too big to keep wearing it. And so, those items get lovingly donated to St. Louise because they dutifully served their first purpose.
St. Louise is a place for second chances, not a repository for junk, or just the stuff that is no longer wanted. If a thing has fully lived its life, please consider recycling it or disposing of it appropriately. But, those quality items that deserve a second chance—bright, shiny, and clean—please consider them for donation.
St. Louise Gift & Thrift is a place to give quality donated items a new chance in a new home, to continue their life anew with people who appreciate saved expenses because they were able to purchase a like-new item at not-new prices. It’s a place where those shoppers are sometimes there because they themselves need a second chance. Not everyone has the opportunity to purchase new items directly from the manufacturer. It might be someone who lost their job, someone who just moved into a new house or apartment, or someone who just had a child and needs to save money while learning how to feed and clothe a brand new member of the family!
Just as we might feel some of our household items are still fresh enough to begin a new chance at life to be donated to St. Louise Gift & Thrift, consider who will become the second owner of those items - someone ready to start a new life and begin a new chapter in their story, and someone ready to take your beloved items to their homes, ready to give those items a new life and a new chapter in their story. Books that can be read again, as adults or to children who will love the story as much as your kids did, clothing that will feel as stylish to its new owner as you felt when you first put in on, furniture that comforted you after a long day that can still do the same, art and paintings that inspired you as you glanced at it in your home that may create dreams and hopes and inspiration to another generation.
If your gently-used items still have life in them to share, and you believe someone else will feel the same level of enjoyment and use out of them as you did, please consider those items for donation to St. Louise Gift & Thrift. The second chance you give your household items also becomes a second chance for the person who takes it to their home next.
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St. Louise Gift & Thrift is no longer a donation collection site. Items may be delivered to the new Donation Center at 1300 N. 14th St., Lincoln, across from Innovation Campus. The new donation center simplifies the item intake process for donors and streamlines sustainability efforts. While CSS continues to accept worn clothing, shoes and purses to be recycled, please consider separating recyclable items prior to drop off. More information can be found at csshope.org.
