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Thrifty

ThriftWorks! by YouthWorks! finds youth-centric nonprofit creating more pathways for young folks

BY ALEX DE VORE alex@sfreporter.com

As local nonprofit YouthWorks! stood on the precipice of 21 years helping young Santa Feans become the next generation of community leaders, the organization also found itself navigating the pandemic with as much trepidation as any organization. Still, according to Executive Director Melynn Schuyler, locals stepped up in a major way during COVID-19, and staff consistently showed up to work to find scads of donations in the parking lot, plus countless people swinging by to offer up their gently used clothing, furniture, home goods, shoes, electronics and more. This is basically how the organization’s new endeavor ThriftWorks! came to exist in a warehouse space off Siler Road.

“We collect donations to help young folks when they’re finding their first housing situations, and we weren’t saying no to anything, so all of a sudden, we were filling up storage units,” Schuyler says. “We realized we had a thrift store on our hands.”

ThriftWorks! (2905 San Isidro Court,

(505) 428-0386) opened last November just as the Omicron variant was coming to a head. According to data from Schuyler, 27 paid youths helped in its launch, including collecting and sorting goods, painting and designing the store, display strategies and more. This number includes participants in the on-

Left to right: Jay Hennicke, Bryan Romero, Jennifer Zoller, Mike Lee and Melynn Schuyler make up much of YouthWorks!’ new thirft shop, ThriftWorks!

going YouthWorks! YouthBuild construction program, which operates under construction manager Johnny Gee, and the finished thrift store has created four full-time positions for YouthWorks! members. This, Schuyler says, might be the crown jewel of the new shop— not only are the kids paid for their time, they receive training in customer service, retail inventory, management and, as a cherry on top, YouthWorks! certifications in those things.

“I got my GED recently being with YouthWorks!,” says ThriftWorks! employee Jennifer Zoller, who, at 17, learned about the program through her aunt, a caseworker who goes by the name Bagel. “It’s active involvement, and I’m full-time as best as I can be— and it’s a paid position.”

Zoller says she’d like to break into animation someday, but even a year ago was not attending school regularly. YouthWorks! helped her complete her high school level studies, and ThriftWorks!, she says, is preparing her for better employment while she works on her illustration skills. Her dream, she adds, is to adapt prison-style art into a more cartoony style and go from there. Schuyler, meanwhile, says Zoller has been of tireless help, as does ThriftWorks! manager Mike Lee, who describes her like his “right arm.” A lifelong Santa Fean, Lee came out of retirement to work at ThriftWorks! following a longtime administrative position with the Santa Fe Public Schools.

“I’d known about YouthWorks! for 20 years,” he says, adding that helping kids was a big part of taking the new position, “and this is an opportunity to show what we do for the youth. Customers can get an earful about what we do, and they get really jazzed up. Honestly, if we have somebody with even just a little bit of interest, we sic the kids on them.”

You can see how well it’s working with employee Bryan Romero, who came to YouthWorks! from Springer in 2009, when he was just 19, and recently returned to Santa Fe to work at ThriftWorks!.

“I just asked them if they had any positions, and they asked me to help out here,” Romero explains. “It’s a learning experience, for sure, but not just retail. It’s more like retail with a cause, and with a little bit of everything. It’s a good job with good pay, too.”

Romero says he pulls down $14 an hour, and he’s been able to pay rent because of it. He also says he believes in the YouthWorks! mission.

“We’re trying to keep kids off the streets, and it’s a great program,” he tells SFR. “We’re trying to get them to be better than what I was when I was younger. I was a bit of a troublemaker, and I wound up in prison for six and a half years because of it.”

Romero, Zoller and the other two full-timers are part of the new shop’s every process, according to Director of Operations Jay Hennicke.

“I oversee operations, make sure everything is good to go,” he says. “And I troubleshoot problems along the way, and we do strategizing, brainstorming.”

He’ll even show up to your house to pick up larger items you don’t want but can’t move yourself. Think of it like decluttering in a post-pandemic world, but also as playing a small part in the creation of opportunities. ThriftWorks! is otherwise like any other thrift shop. For now, Schuyler says, the project is self-sustaining with no income going back out to YouthWorks! Over time, this could change, and new positions might possibly open up for kids down the road, but she, Lee, Hennicke, Zoller and Romero are just happy to keep things running. You’ll find items like you would at any thrift shop, too, without the socio-political issues inherent with nonprofits like the Salvation Army, which has faced allegations of discrimination for years.

“We’re the locals!” Schuyler says emphatically. “And we have little pots of money to make opportunities happen for young people. If they show up and want to learn, we’re going to find a way.”