2 minute read
Volunteer Services
THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
The shops at Garden Spot Village offer a delightful shopping experience, where you can find a variety of items for yourself and your home. Volunteers staff the stores to keep overhead costs low. Plus, it always feels good to shop at Garden Spot because proceeds from the stores benefit the Garden Spot Village Benevolent Fund.
Linden
Linden offers a unique collection of quality gifts, accessories, clothing, jewelry and essential items. Where else can you pick up a new blouse, a gift for the grandkids and a pint of Fox Meadows ice cream? While Jodi Lefever and Amanda Feeg, Volunteer Services, offer leadership to Linden, the store really runs on volunteers! Volunteers work two-hour shifts Monday through Saturday, covering all of the hours the store is open. In addition, a team of residents helps to stock Linden with the essentials. Ed and Darlene Smith purchase health and beauty items for the store as well as, light bulbs, soap, candy and bulk items. The Smiths regularly check expiration dates on the milk and other perishable items and on Monday and Wednesday mornings they shop for bananas.
Share & Care
The Share & Care Thrift Shop at Garden Spot Village is one of the best kept secrets in New Holland. The shop offers quality used items—from lamps and dishes to linens, purses, jewelry and furniture—at incredibly affordable prices. E.J. Rittersbach, Shirley Wenger and Janice Ford co-manage Share & Care. A team of volunteer residents work in two-hour shifts Monday through Saturday. In addition to volunteering, Garden Spot Village residents can support Share & Care by shopping and donating. EJ says, “We always want to look at furniture before it’s dropped off, but everything else is welcome. Working coffee pots, toasters, flat screen TVs, knick-knacks, baskets—we welcome everything but clothing. If we get something we can’t sell, we just pass it along to another thrift store.”
Christel Huxley volunteers in both stores. “When someone walks into Share & Care or Linden I always say, ‘If I can talk you into anything, just let me know.’ They turn and laugh and by that time we’re friends,” says Christel. She enjoys the interaction she has with customers and the opportunity to serve her community.
