Helping out locally

File this under "No good deed goes unpunished"!

When Grannie retired from work, for pay, several years ago she migrated to a local thrift store, known as "The Helping Hand" to contribute hours upon hours of volunteer labor. Weekly she joins with some 60 other good Samaritans to contribute an hour or many more to make the store a success. Volunteer meaning no pay for constructive labor but a huge reward for good deeds done for the good of this community.

The "Helping Hand" is sponsored by the local Methodist Church and is one of two in McCook. Those of the Catholic persuasion do a (most times friendly) competing operation that they call "Bargain Bazaar" with similar goals of community service.

Both stores operate by receiving still useful but unwanted items that people want to be rid of.

It is too good to throw away. Those items include leftovers from garage sales gladly accepted by the thrifts. Hopefully there may be someone else in need to gratefully get more use. Waste not, want not. Other items are donated by families cleaning out deceased relative's homes and have no need for the items too good to throw away. Surly someone else can use them. It is a generous American phenomenon.

Grannie and a group of other dedicated ladies particularly like to work Monday mornings, because that is when the week's accumulated donations are sorted and moved to display in the store's various departments. (Monday workers get first "dibs" is my cynical, not well-received, comment but be assured that any items they take home are paid for at the going rate.) Kitchen items, men's clothing, ladies clothing, children's clothing, toys, knick-knack treasures, bedding, the Christmas store, the list goes on.

Many items become excess to what the ladies think will move and yes space is limited. Those excess items are boxed and when enough are accumulated are sent on, free, to Goodwill Industries of Grand Island.

The proceeds from the sale of items from the store, yes they do realize a considerable amount of pure profit, go to good causes. You see there isn't a lot of overhead, just rent for space and utilities -- labor and cost of goods is nil.

Under good causes, not all customers are charged. Many times a week, persons in need gravitate to Barb Ostrum's MID office upstairs and are given a voucher and those persons are given their needed items free of charge.

If a person needs a better outfit to wear to a job interview those are given free to help give him/her a chance to become a productive member of society. Good jeans go for three bucks. An occasional "bag day" means a customer pays $3 for all they can stuff in a brown grocery bag. Many items are sold for a quarter, dime or nickel but those moneys all accumulate. Yes they have to collect and pay sales tax.

The "Helping Hand" donates freely to local responsible charities, the Food Pantry and CASA come to mind.

Charity is the name of the game and none of the funds go to support the operations of the local church with the exception of "scholarships" to camp for children in need.

All profit is scrupulously donated to charitable work for the good of our community.

National news currently is reporting "refugee" children flooding across our southern border and being delivered to communities just like ours. Have no doubt that if a local group was trying to care for a number of those children "Helping Hand" would be first in line to share their inventory of clothing and whatever items would make the kids' lives more comfortable -- all free of charge. It is what Christians do!

Recently the "Helping Hand" has experienced a considerable decrease in donations to their life blood inventory. The ladies trace the decrease to the McCook City Council's April 7 decision to authorize Goodwill Industries to set up a semi-trailer van for daily collections in the parking lot on the west edge of McCook.

Unfortunately the van seems to be a more convenient drop off for donations, because helpers carry the bags from the customer's cars to their van. Helping Hand requires carrying items down basement steps to their store on the corner of Norris and C streets but there is also an elevator to use.

The ladies note that Goodwill also charges considerably more for the items they sell. Not so good a deal for the people really in need. So the ladies plea that all you good people that are donating items, please consider stopping by our local thrift stores with your items before leaving them with the outside-interest corporate giant.

And yes, whether donating locally or to Goodwill, the value of your donated items is all tax deductible.

Not to knock Goodwill Industries of Greater Nebraska. Their web site shows that they are a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit corporation. They employ large numbers of special needs persons much as our own Southwest Area Training SWATS does in their workshop on East 11th Street.

The nonprofit thing is a bit of a misnomer in my mind as I'm sure their corporate officers and board members are well compensated to help offset the annual $1.5 million in difference between income and expense in "nonprofit" operations.

So it is that local government has rather torpedoed the good of the people that they serve. We should do better.

That is the way that I saw it.

Dick Trail