Discovered: Cure for rainy day blues at Salvation Army stores
Sunshine. Tank tops. Boats. Barbecues. Fishing.
Finally. After another frigid winter, we in Minnesota and North Dakota have earned these spring and summer indulgences. And lucky us, we’ve got the next four months to enjoy them.
Granted, rain will mess up our plans a time or two. But when that happens, don’t go diving onto the couch with a pile of potato chips and DVDs. Instead, try something new. Something different. Something like … like …
Volunteering at a Salvation Army store.
There are 23 Salvation Army stores across Greater Minnesota and North Dakota, and every one of them needs help.
Like the store in Hibbing, Minn., where they’re always short a few people.
“We get three or four volunteers every day – we could use five or six,” said Judy Rounsville (pictured, left), a volunteer regular of three years.
She said that while she was pricing blue jeans. Three other volunteers were just behind her, sorting shirts and hanging them on display racks (pictured at top). The group was busier than normal, Rounsville said, because “Now that it’s summertime, we get all the leftovers from the garage sales. But it’s good that we get it.”
Good indeed. Every penny the Hibbing Salvation Army earns on the sale of a donated good is used to fund vital programs that help Hibbing residents in need. That includes the Hibbing Salvation Army’s food shelf, which last year distributed nearly 500,000 pounds of food (pictured).
The same is true for all of the other stores in Minnesota and North Dakota – their proceeds are dumped right back into the community. Proceeds from stores in Greater Minnesota and North Dakota are used to support basic needs programs. So when you volunteer at a store, what you’re really doing is putting food on somebody’s table, or preventing a family from having their heat shut off, or providing furniture to a neighbor who lost everything in a flood or house fire. You become a ray of sunshine on their cloudiest day. By shopping or giving time at the Twin Cities area stores, you are helping to fund a life-saving rehabilitation program.
Volunteering makes you feel all warm and fuzzy not only because of the good you accomplish, but because of the good company you keep.
“Volunteering at Salvation Army stores is fun because everybody is just plain happy,” said Lt. Col. Robert Thomson, Commander of The Salvation Army in Minnesota and North Dakota. “They’re all there to help others without expecting anything in return. So it’s pretty hard to not be smiling and laughing all the time.”
No time to volunteer? No problem. You can support Salvation Army stores by donating your new and gently used clothing, housewares, sporting equipment, furniture, electronics, and other goods.
Whether you’d like to donate goods or volunteer, the most important thing is that you do it – rain or shine.
Get started right now by finding a Salvation Army store near you.