How Your Donations Help Others
Have you ever reflected on how the donations you make at Care & Share touch others?
The blouse, the shoes, plates, a comforter, or a comfortable recliner that you no longer need – where should I go with them? Many organizations would be happy to receive your contributions. Why Care & Share?
Your donations, whether the gently used everyday items or the special piece that no longer fits your needs or space, unleash a whole chain of events that have a significant impact on local communities and the greater world.
Recently, we had an opportunity to discuss this concept with Hyacinth Stevens, Executive Director of MCC East Coast. She reminded us of the important work that occurs in thrift stores that support MCC. It is much more than just the monies that are raised to be shared with MCC. While that is important, she also stressed that many other benefits occur that align with the mission and goals of MCC. Here’s some of the ways your donations are doing GREAT work at Care & Share.
Support the local community
Many people that live in the Souderton and surrounding communities struggle daily with making ends meet. Care & Share provides so many of life’s essentials at prices that allow working families to stretch their dollars.
Support the local workforce
Care & Share employs approximately 85 people. This provides livelihood for our employees and their families. We provide some people with ‘second chance’ employment, enabling them to reenter the work field after personal difficulties. The money they earn sorting and preparing donations for sale stays in our local economy.
Provide enriching volunteer experiences
Over 600 volunteers participate every month helping to process the donations through the system and into our customers’ hands. Volunteers not only serve MCC, they are also serving others, developing relationships and enjoying the social benefits of working together. We also provide many opportunities for volunteers with special needs to learn life skills and be productive members of society.
Supporting sustainability and benefiting the Earth
We receive many wonderful donations. Why should a thrift shop be one of your first choices? A major discussion topic at the spring MCC Thrift Conference was the goal of minimizing the baling of clothing. Some organizations collect clothing and household goods and immediately bale the items for resale. Sometimes these bales are shipped out of the country, often to developing countries, where excess quantities are dumped or burned. Your donation to Care & Share is handled differently. These donations stay out of the baling cycle and are brought into other homes for a second-life use. Typical of any thrift operation, 10-15% of what we display for sale will not sell in the time it is on the sales floor. From there, it moves to the Outlet shoppe, where our customers can buy it by the pound. What is not sold in the Outlet is then forwarded to the Harleysville Material Resource Center, where it is baled and sold in bulk. The amount of donations that get baled compared to the total of donations we receive is small. In addition, from time to time, we share unsorted donations with other MCC-thrift shops, such as ReUzit on State (Ephrata) and the Et Cetera Shop in Ohio, where they sell the items in their local communities in much the same way we do. Again, this maximizes the value of the donations you share with us, and minimizes the impact on the Earth.
Meeting Local Needs and Supporting MCC
As money is raised through the sale of your donations, the net proceeds support MCC and our local communities. This is through outright donations to MCC (we have contributed over $21 million to MCC) and to the local community by working with local partners, like Keystone Opportunity Council, churches, and other organizations, that come to us seeking material support for individuals and families they are assisting. This local support frequently ranges from $40,000-$50,000 each year.
Throughout the donation’s life with Care & Share, opportunities abound to turn your donations into measurable impacts. Some of these impacts are financial. We often speak with people who tell us that if they try to have a yard sale, they may get $1.00 or $2.00 for an item of clothing, but by donating to Care & Share, they see that it likely will turn into $5.99 or $7.99 for an item. They prefer to see their donations exceed what could be accomplished on their own. Other impacts are the positive effects the work at Care & Share has on people’s lives and through promoting sustainability.
In summary, donations are the lifeblood of Care & Share’s operations. As we contemplate moving to a larger facility, the volume and need for donated goods is more important than ever. Thank you for your continued support of the mission and work of MCC and Care & Share by your generous donations!