Along with some other Hillcresters, I volunteered at the Volunteers of America Thrift Store this past Wednesday. Since this was my first time at the VOA without my boys, this was my first time being able to work in the wearhouse. The project this night was "brokering shoes", and consisted of sorting donated shoes. The good shoes would eventually go onto the floor for sale; the bad shoes were "brokered", meaning some company eventually purchases them (along with belts, purses, and jeans) and moves them to 3rd world countries. The idea that there was a market for our old shoes- shoes that a thrift store did not even want- struck me. Another one of those "how much I have" kind of moments.
Also, if you ever donate shoes to a non-profit in the future, these two tips will save those of us who sort a ton of time:
- tie your shoes together- this saves us from having to go through the entire box or bag looking for the match
- don't donate just one shoe- seriously, this seems self-explanatory, but donating one shoe without the other is like donating a muffin stump to a soup kitchen. Seriously.
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