Every Saturday morning, between 200 and 250 cars pull up to the loading dock to deliver items families no longer need. And every Friday and Saturday mornings, long lines of shoppers wait eagerly for the Kiwanis Thrift Sale doors to open, eager to find bargains.
“Thrifting isn’t just for college kids of newlyweds needing to furnish an apartment. It seems like a national pastime for many people,” said a harried thrift store cashier on a busy Friday morning.
A crew of 270 volunteers—not all of them Kiwanis members—receive and sort the donations, clean and merchandise them, test appliances and, if necessary, make small repairs. Tech-savvy volunteers dismantle outdated electronics for precious metals in their components—these will be sold and the remaining parts will be recycled. And shopping-savvy volunteers search websites for prices before items reach the massive sales floor or are offered online…