Kidney Thrift Store’s grand re-opening today
The Cape Coral Kidney Thrift Store will have its grand re-opening today, along with hosting a bag sale, to celebrate its new location.
The $6 bag sale will provide customers with the opportunity to fit as many pieces of clothing, shoes and belts into the bag as they can from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Coffee and cookies will be served from 10 a.m. until noon.
“We have so much clothing and shoes, which is why we are having a bag sale,” said Sharon Childers, president of the Cape Coral Kidney Store.
Since the thrift store is a “cash only” store, Childers explained that they are able to keep their adult clothing at a low cost of $1 and children’s clothing at 50 cents.
Childers, who became president a year ago, said they had to move locations late last year because they had too many donations to fit inside the 1,000-square-foot building. The new facility provides more room to display items in a department store type setting.
All the proceeds over the store’s expenses are donated to a local dialysis center, along with the National Kidney Foundation in Orlando for research.
“The more we sell, the more we can donate,” Childers said.
Approximately 25 percent of the store’s proceeds is donated to the foundation strictly for research.
The local dialysis center also reaps the benefits from the thrift store through numerous gift cards that cover such things as prescription costs, food and gas.
“Cash donations are the best way to help these people,” she said. “It is very costly to be on dialysis.”
The Cape Coral Kidney Thrift store is a non-profit that runs strictly on volunteers.
“Our store is probably the only thrift store that is totally run by volunteers,” she said. “We have no paid employees.”
There are currently 20 volunteers who donate their time at the thrift store with an average age of 80. Childers said she is seeking younger volunteers to help out during the stores two shifts.
“We need people with all kinds of talents,” she said of the 20 additional volunteers she needs. “I will take teenagers as volunteers if they have to do community service for school, as long as I am there to supervise.”
The Cape Coral Kidney Thrift Store opened 25 years ago to bring the “severity of this disease to light,” Childers said because, “this is growing.”
She explained that very little is heard about kidney disease, which she hopes to change by bringing awareness to the community about how many insulin dependent young children there are.
Donations are accepted anytime between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.
The Cape Coral Kidney Thrift Store is located at 1515 Del Prado Blvd., S., two blocks north of the Del Prado Walmart on the corner of Southeast 15th Terrace in between Sherwin Williams and Sign Mart.
For more information, call (239) 458-8242 or Childers’ cell phone at (239) 4644-9525.