Last year in August, we had our first Changing Focus Cash Mob at the Laurel Thrift Store. Changing Focus received a donation of $115.00, due to about 30 participants making their purchase. This year we'd like to top that number, so if you want to do some 'thrifting', do it on Saturday, August 31st from 10 AM to 2 PM. In addition to shopping, you can multiply the donation to Changing Focus, by donating your useable, but unwanted clothes and/or household items. For your donation, you will get a tax receipt, which you present to the cashier, with the coupon attached to the reminder email next week and $8.00 will be donated to CF. So, 20% of your purchase AND $8.00 for donating your items all can add up to a good thing for the organization!

So, start collecting your discards and plan to donate at and/or to shop at Laurel Thrift Store. Around 1:00 PM, some will make their way to Red, Hot and Blue for lunch. But, plan to shop Laurel Thrift Store and use the coupon, even after lunch, if you want. The coupon will be accepted later that day as well.

Someone asked me, do we take donations of shoes? The answer is we do. We have very little restriction on what we do take. We take almost everything. The main proviso is that it be in useable condition. The main purpose of our store is to benefit our associated charities. Receiving items that cannot be resold is an expense to our business and prevents us from better serving our main purpose. For that reason, we don't accept furniture, unless it has no rips, no stains and is in good repair. We might do minor repairs on electrical items and we might shine up some shoes, if they will bring a good price, but we don't do repairs, generally. Clothes, bedding and other soft items, should be clean, etc. So, the complete list of items we take is: Ladies, Mens and Kids clothes, shoes, electric items, furniture, bedding and other soft goods, Toys, jewelry dishware and other hard items. Generally, things you might find in a department store, but not a drug or grocery store. For non-clothing soft goods and for hard goods, the list is limited only by the things that people in the United States have possessed for several hundred of years. That is one of the things that makes thrifting so fun: finding a unique item that you won't find at any department store.