SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — A local consignment shop that offers furniture, home décor and other hidden treasures at a discount is channeling some of its sales into helping victims of domestic violence.
Consignments Ltd., in the Maine’s Shopping Plaza in Wakefield, has opened its Charity Clearance Room to benefit the Domestic Violence Resource Center of South County.
Shop owner and founder Marianne Mernick-Sullivan came up with the idea after several years of diverting proceeds from regularly sold clearance items to benefit the center.
“The DVRC is such a worthwhile organization,” she said. “We are so happy to help in any way we can.”
Mernick-Sullivan, a board member with the center, had been holding sidewalk sales but wanted something a bit more stable and regular, as well as easy to manage year-round. She’s set up a small space in the shop’s former storage area where the clearance items for the center are on display.
The goods for sale can range from furniture and art to knick-knacks, jewelry and old vinyl records.
“Somebody gave us LPs. We said, $4 each,” Mernick-Sullivan said. “Everything goes to them.”
Sometimes, larger items such as a table or desk are in the main showrooms as well.
How do shoppers know an item’s sale will benefit the Domestic Violence Resource Center?
Each price tag on a charity item is purple — the color associated with domestic violence awareness.
“If a dining room set goes to clearance, I can immediately put it on the floor with that tag,” she said.
Stock in the room changes daily, and Mernick-Sullivan plans to resume sidewalk sales as well, when the weather warms. Last year, her special sales raised more than $2,000, she said.
“Every dime is used well,” she added. “And the stuff doesn’t end up in the landfill.”
Mernick-Sullivan’s efforts have drawn praise from the center’s staff and clients.
“We are so happy to partner with Consignments Ltd., in this new endeavor,” Mary Roda, executive director of the center, said. “It’s a creative way that this local business is helping us further the goal of eliminating domestic violence.”
Mernick-Sullivan said the Domestic Violence Resource Center is an organization close to her heart.
“People might not know, but 30 percent of their clients are men,” she said. “I just think nobody should have to live in fear in their own home.”
The center, a nonprofit, offers a help line and a drop-in location to talk with victims or other concerned individuals and offer safety planning, emergency cell phones, resources and referrals.
It provides confidential safe home and transitional housing programs for abused women and their children who are homeless due to domestic violence, as well as one-to-one counseling, support groups and guidance through the legal system for domestic violence cases.
For her sidewalk sales, Mernick-Sullivan plans to offer two totes of small items each day. Anything not sold at the ‘flash sales’ will be donated somewhere else, she said.
“We’ll bring in anything and everything we can to sell,” Mernick-Sullivan, who’s been in business for 16 years, said.
"local" - Google News
March 19, 2022 at 07:00PM
https://ift.tt/c6nv94B
Local consignment shop opens new room with a purpose - The Independent
"local" - Google News
https://ift.tt/T8Qc5Ne
https://ift.tt/LA2d6gj
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Local consignment shop opens new room with a purpose - The Independent"
Post a Comment