The Sackville Food Bank is going into business to help support its mission to feed people in need in the region.
Starting August 1, the ‘Second Chances’ thrift store will open up for business at 18 Lorne Street, selling furniture and household goods donated by area residents.
CHMA stopped in to find out more from two of the project’s key organizers:
Kelli Taylor is the new president of the Sackville Food Bank, and longtime president Heather Patterson is now serving as logistics manager for the operation.
“One of the things with the Sackville Food Bank, unfortunately, is that we continue to grow,” says Taylor. “The need is growing, and because of that, we had to do some forward planning.” Taylor says the board has been considering a possible social enterprise for several years, and this year drew up a business plan for a thrift store.
“We know eventually we’re going to need to get our own building, a much bigger building than where we’re at now,” says Taylor, “and this is an integral part of that plan, for the fundraising for that.”
Patterson says the team has heard positive reactions to the plan for a thrift store that will sell furniture and household items. Currently, “there’s no place to to donate furniture in Sackville,” says Patterson. “I think there’s a real niche for us doing what we’re going to do.”
The shop is currently taking donations by appointment and on Mondays, and people can also drop off items in the small shed beside 18 Lorne Street, which formerly served as a community pantry. As of August 1, the Second Chances shop will be open to shoppers from Wednesday to Saturday from 10am until 3pm, and will accept donations on Mondays.
Taylor says she’s hoping people who are downsizing or decluttering will keep the social enterprise in mind, and the focus for now is on furniture and household items. “We would like to be able to take it easy on the clothing for now, just because we’re trying to get furniture and household goods in preparation for all the students coming back to Mount A for the fall term,” says Taylor. And donations should be in relatively good shape, says Taylor.
“It has to be able to be resold,” she says. “So if it’s broken or torn, it’s probably best for the garbage, unfortunately. But you know, anything else we’re willing to take a look at and give it a chance, a second chance, to be sold and used by somebody who can love it as much as the first person.”
Patterson says one of the goals of the shop is to provide a place for lower incomes households to shop. “We are going to keep our prices low so that our clients at the food bank will be able to shop here,” says Patterson.
At the outset, the new operation will be 100% volunteer run, just like the food bank itself. But Taylor says the plan is eventually to hire a store manager and possibly some part-time workers. “But volunteers are always going to be an integral part of it,” says Taylor.
Taylor says the group is hoping to be able to raise between $30,000 and $40,000 per year to help the Sackville Food Bank support its growing client list. Two years ago, says Taylor, the Sackville operation graduated from being classified a small food bank to a medium food bank. Now, with 447 individual clients per year as of March, they are on the cusp of being classified a large food bank by national standards. “So we have to prepare,” says Taylor, “because we’re just getting busier and busier, unfortunately.”
