Dear Friends,

I have managed the Friends House Seniors Association in-house thrift shop for about four years; co-manager Kate Prager joined me a couple of years ago. Along with a lively group of resident volunteers, we sell all manner of quirky and practical clothes, kitchen tools and housewares, furniture, linens, and so much more! We also receive donations of a huge array of useful and charming things; many shoppers come just to browse our five rooms full surprising pre-loved items. One of our volunteers likes to say, “This is the shop where everything is one-of-a-kind!”

We are open Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:00am to 2:00pm. How does a day in the Elephant Shop go? First a manager turns up to drag five racks of clothing into the hallway where they can be seen and appreciated. (Our “showrooms” are former small apartments in C Wing, so with all the clothes we have on offer we are always bursting at the seams.) Soon three other volunteers and our master sorter Caroline turn up to open the shop at 10:00am. Someone chooses new and cool items to feature on a small table across from the main door. Another volunteer gets the cash box out of hiding and prepares to take cash and checks and record what’s sold, for how much, in our big green ledger. Some tidy-minded member of the team checks the racks to separate the small sizes from the large sizes, and to pull empty hangers. Caroline tackles the usual backlog of donations, figuring out what we can sell, and from what room, as well as helping Kate and me decide how much to charge for good things. Apart from furniture, there’s hardly anything that costs more than $3.00! And we give discounts to front-line Friends House staff. Some less desirable merchandise is set aside to be passed on to another charity.

All the while we are watching out for customers and catching up on each other’s lives – visits from relatives, health concerns, new residents, upcoming socials and activities, the most beautiful trees…. Of course we also share a lot of laughs about the little absurdities of senior life: most of us are in our 80s or 90s.

We so enjoy knowing each other and knowing our customers! As residents, staff members, and a few outsiders begin to drift in, we love consulting with them about the things they “just can’t live without.” We often consult with residents in transition – closing an apartment or downsizing possessions. On Thursday morning one of our younger and stronger volunteers helps me pick up large donations from residents in transition.

Thursday is also the day we count the money for the week and deposit it in a lockbox for the Friends House Seniors Association (FHSA) treasurer. Even at our low prices, we often make more than $300.00 per two-day week. The Elephant Shop is the chief source of funding for all the activities of the FHSA, and we are proud to earn enough income to fund that important budget.

Judith Farquhar, For the Elephant Shop volunteers