Volunteers at the NM Community House Thrift Store Receive a Tasty Expression of Appreciation
Granite Mountain Cafe hosted a luncheon for all volunteers of the Community House Thrift Store on Wednesday, March 27th. To show appreciation for them, a wonderful taco bar was served and beautifully arranged fruits for dessert. Thank you, Darcy McDaniel, for making this happen!
After everyone was seated, the store President, Kristi Schiermeier, gave her famous whistle to get everyone’s attention. She thanked the volunteers for coming and got choked up as she told them how valuable they are. Kristi told them their little store had pulled in $67,000 in 19 months! She thanked donors and House Manager Brenda Burton. She thanked her young tech guy, Jerred for testing out game consoles, she gave thanks to Debbie Slack and Ann Rehm for doing the scheduling, Tim and Jim DeVries for moving and hauling, Don Schiermeier, Joe Scott, Rob, Pam and Judy for doing the sorting. Kristi heads up the sort team and gets a pickup load every other day. Everything is gone through and goes out to 10 different places. Some of these places are the Riggins After School Program and the Rose Advocacy in Weiser which is a women’s shelter. Some things even go to Boise. Here in New Meadows, the thrift store supports the Community Center with Bingo Prizes and operating costs, Meadows Valley Youth Coalition with money for food for the after-school program, the library, the food bank, the Christmas program, the Historical Society, and S.A.V.E.S. Teacher Randall Annunziato also receives funds and uses them for his Winter Wonderland, Halloween Party and the Science Field Trip.
House Manager Brenda Burton then took the floor. She thanked Penny Steadham for all she does which includes cleaning the thrift store and volunteering for the Youth Coalition. She introduced Leia Ybarguen, the coordinator of the Youth Coalition and Kristi piped back in to tell what a great job Leia is doing at the after-school program. There, kids have many things to do such as Legos, coloring, crocheting, knitting, and learning music. More people were thanked like Kathy Elson, Laura Silkworth, Becky Vandeuson, Kristi Scott, Jean Correia and a special thank you flower was presented to the volunteer that’s been there the longest, Kathleen Villenueve!
