Thrifty Shoppers Help Support Local Charities at Rye Presbyterian

Although churchgoers may not know it, a thriving market place exists in the basement of Rye Presbyterian Church (RPC) every Thursday during the school year. A dedicated group of 35 women manage five separate rooms of goods at their thrift store. There is a Tiffany’s room, with the thrift store’s finest, most expensive items; the Macy’s room, “nice stuff but not as nice as the Tiffany room;” J&S boutique with lamps, furniture and home decor; a Kid’s Room and a Kitchen (Catch-all) Room.

“The next room is the best room,” said one of the volunteers with a smile, adding that she says that because it is the room she manages.

The Women’s Association of RPC are a dedicated bunch who take pride in their work; even though they are not paid to spend their time carefully organizing and pricing donated items, they take the job seriously. Cindy Kuster and Nancy Basset are co-chairs of the store who have been volunteering there for the last eight years.

“We always try to have fun and make it an enjoyable experience for volunteers so people like working here and coming in," said Kuster, while she enthusiastically gave a tour to after a recent luncheon for thrift store grant recipients. “Some say it is like therapy only cheaper because they get to see their friends and have a good time,” she said of the volunteers.

Customers enjoy the shop too because they can find nice items that may have originally cost $50 for only $5 or less. Kuster even has an email list with about 180 names that she sends updates to when new items arrive. Kuster and all the other volunteers get to see their fruits of their labor at the annual luncheon.

Thrift store profits are used to award local organizations grants each spring. This year they gave away $50,000 worth of grants to 22 different groups.  

The Women’s Association purposely spreads the money out among a large number of groups so no one becomes too dependent on their grants to function because they never know how much money they will make at the store during the year. A Grant Committee evaluates applications and needs and carefully selects the winners.

“When you come to this event it is so humbling because we live in a town where many o f us are privileged but there is so much need around us and to be able to to support organizations like this is wonderful,” said Kristin Jautz, a RPC Women’s Association board member.

Each group gets about $1,000 to go towards a specific element of their program. The Caritas of Port Chester, a group that holds ESL classes for Hispanic residents, received $1,000 to hire a baby sister so parents can learn without children tugging at their sleeves. The Rye Presbyterian Church Youth Group received a grant to help buy supplies for houses in New Orleans damaged by Hurricane Katrina that still need repair work done.

Many other groups gratefully accepting their awards at the luncheon and appreciated knowing exactly what that money would help provide.

The thrift store is open every Thursday during the school year from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tomorrow, Thursday, June 13 is the last day it will be open until September. Everything is half off. Last Thursday they made $1,800 in the three hours they were open when things were half priced. The thrift store has jewelry, purses, kitchenware, toys, books, art and much more. It is worth a look.