I love thrift shops. I can (and have) spend hours shopping there and scooping out treasures at a fraction of the cost that I’d pay for similar items at antique shops. I rarely buy clothes there, but I know that they do have a good selection of affordable clothing items. Here’s the thing: most of what thrift stores carry is donated items. People clean out their closets and donate all of their stuff, assuming it will be sold or given to people who need it. I myself have done this on several occasions. Although we know that these thrift stores sell these donated items, we also know that the money they make goes to a good cause. However, for any of these charitable organizations to turn away people in need is horrifying. We don’t know if the story below is true, but it rings true for me and needs to be read.
I stopped off at Goodwill this morning to check out what they had when I noticed that a lady and her kid—a small girl—came in and asked if she could have a pair of shoes and a jacket for her kid. The manager told her that they couldn’t afford to give her anything, citing company policy. It was snowing outside and the woman was in tears. she looked like she could have also used some new shoes for herself.
I felt so sorry for her.
The worst part about it is that one of the employees started snickering and laughing about her situation, wondering aloud how anyone would be so stupid as to think they could get free stuff from there.
Because the manager wasn’t around for us to complain to, me and several other people just walked straight out of there and we took the woman and her child with us. I took them to the nearby Salvation Army, where they not only gave her and her kids shoes and a coat, but also some vouchers for free meals.
I can’t believe anyone at Goodwill would do this. I won’t be supporting them from now on.
