Spending for schools Students Helping Honduras hosts thrift fundraiser

By AVERY GOODSTINE The Breeze

Stacks of folded clothing, piles of books, and an assortment of modern and vintage jewelry capture the eyes of passersby and entice them to take a closer look.

This event, known as Thrift SHHop, is put on every semester by JMU’s chapter of the international nonprofit, Students Helping Honduras (SHH). This semester, the event ran from Monday to Wednesday. The club’s main goal is to “alleviate extreme poverty in Honduras through education and youth empowerment,”

SHH President Kate Peppiett said.

She added this event is its biggest fundraiser, and all the proceeds go directly to the international chapter of SHH to help build schools in Honduras. Specifically, the money goes toward building materials and paying the wages of the builders.

The items sold range from $1-5 and were donated by friends and family of club members as well as from the members themselves. In the past, SHH has also reached out to sororities and other clubs to help bring in clothing donations. This semester, there were so many donations that tables were replenished as items were bought, freshman club member Adriana Zuniga said.

Last semester, Peppiett said the thrift event raised a little over $350 and it’s on track to meet that goal again this semester and possibly exceed it, although SHH hasn’t yet reached prepandemic numbers — around $800 to $1,000, she said.

Another difficulty faced by the club, Peppiett said, is the rapid decline in membership since the pandemic. Before COVID-19, SHH had six or seven executive members, Peppiett said, and now the entire organization has just five active members.

She added that based on the increase in student involvement with the thrift event compared to last semester, she does feel the organization is on track to getting its fundraising and membership back to pre-pandemic numbers.

The event is also usually held for a full week, she said, but this year it was only able to do it for three days due to issues with finding time to rent a space. However, Peppiett said this hasn’t diminished the fundraising efforts.

“We are reaching more people than we did last semester, which is pretty exciting,” Peppiett said.

Sisters, Rewa and Rimona Tawil are studying abroad for a semester from Egypt and visited the thrift shop Monday and Tuesday.

They both said they were impressed with the selection of items at the event, especially the books. Rewa said she bought books both days she stopped in.

“I liked the variety — there wasn’t just one style,” Rewa said. “There’s a lot of funky stuff in there.”

This was freshman SHH member Sydni Smith’s first time attending the event and she said she enjoyed the experience.

“It’s really cool to see that people come in and donate to an organization that they’ve never heard of and they’re not involved in,” Smith said. “It’s just uplifting.”

CONTACT Avery Goodstine at thebreezeweb@gmail.com For more on the culture, arts and lifestyle of the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the culture desk on Twitter and Instagram @Breeze_Culture.