The Other St. Vince

Living in Green Bay, everyone knows who Vince Lombardi was. This post, though, is about a different Saint Vincent...

Just as I was dropping off a load of clothes/books/miscellaneous junk at the back of St. Vincent DePaul's thrift store on Thursday, Mom called to ask if I would pick up a photo frame for 4 x 6 prints from Walmart. I told her I would check at "St. Vinnie's" instead, since I was right there. (It is, after all, her favorite store.)

I was surprised to see that a large number of folks (15 or 20) were waiting for the store to open (at 9:30am). What's that all about? Anyway, I waited right along with them, noticing that the best dressed folks waited across the street. (That cracked me up; you're too good to stand beside these people, but you're not too good to shop at St. Vincent DePaul's thrift store?

It'd been a very long time since I'd been to St. Vinnie's, but nothing had changed; tons of clothing, tons of housewares, tons of books, tons of characters in the store, and tons of buys.

Great things about shopping at St. Vinnies:

1) You can leave that place with a load of stuff you never even knew you needed!
2) You don't have to get dressed up (or even take a shower) to shop there. (Only kidding! There were plenty of respectably groomed/dressed people shopping when I was there.)
3) I got all of this (an electric can opener, a cute, good-as-new blouse, three photo albums, and a pair of new candles) for just $6.50 (each of the photo albums were brand new and cost 25 to 50 cents!)4) When you shop at any of the St. Vincent DePaul thrift stores in your area, you are helping your community, which Lord knows needs it these days. St. Vincent DePaul also provides numerous volunteer opportunities on any given day. Everyone helping when I was there seemed cheerful and happy to be helping out. I've volunteered there myself (with students); it was a cinch. We spent three hours just sorting clothes, and when we left, there were mountains left, so as you can see, our help put a small dent but I'm sure was appreciated.

5) And last, but not least, I must mention one more great thing about St. Vinnies. My uncle just happens to be the current volunteer President of the St. Vincent DePaul Council. He and my Aunt Rae were recognized this year as Everyday Heroes; people who make Northeast Wisconsin a better place to live through their many volunteer efforts. They're great people.

And the cute thing? Is that my uncle's name is Vince!