Thrift Store Donations Maximize Impact
After just two distribution periods, Palmer Home Thrift Stores announces a 400% increase in their Corners of Your Field initiative.
Corners of Your Field, launched earlier this year, allows churches to earn gift cards to Palmer Thrift Stores based on donations to the thrift store from members of the congregation. Churches earn a credit of 10% of the approximate value of the donation which accumulates on gift cards. Churches can then distribute those gift cards to families or individuals who come to the church with needs like clothing, appliances or furniture–anything the thrift store carries. The program helps churches with limited benevolence funds to do more for those in need.
During the first distribution period, the thrift store issued $800 in gift cards to around five different churches. During the most recent distribution period they distributed $4,000 in gift cards to fourteen churches. Nathan Katona, Auxiliary Business Manager, said even more pastors are contacting him about the program since the latest distribution.
One local church used their gift cards to purchase five couches for international students at a nearby college. Another church issued gift cards to families who needed new mattresses, but couldn’t afford to buy them retail.
“It’s really a win-win,” said Katona. “It helps Palmer Home. It helps the needy. And it helps our community churches.”
Call for more donations
Between the Columbus and Starkville locations, Palmer Home Thrift Stores see 1,000 individual donors every month and take in around 40,000 items. In order to grow the availability of items and sales, they are always in need of additional donations.
The thrift stores do not accept televisions, used mattresses or non-working appliances, but they will take donations of just about anything else. Katona said while they don’t have any specific items they’re currently asking for, they are need of a lot more donations in general.
Katona and Palmer Home continue to remind people that when they give to Palmer Home Thrift Stores, they are doing more than getting rid of things they no longer need. Each gift and each purchase is helping to fund the operations of Palmer Home, where over 100 children are cared for, loved and educated every day. Now, through the Corners of Your Field program, those donations also assist others who are needy in the community.
Scheduling donation pick-ups
To make giving easier, for donors with more than ten bags or boxes of donations or large furniture donations, Palmer Home Thrift Stores will actually come to you! Go to pickupmydonation.com and enter your zip code to see if you qualify. “Even if we’re not open, you can still get your pick-up scheduled,” said Katona.
In addition to donating items to the thrift stores, Palmer Home supporters can help by sharing about the thrift store needs and the Corners of Your Field program with friends, at their church and through social media.
Follow Palmer Home Thrift Stores on Facebook and Instagram for updates.
