St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County

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The Gift of Literature: Stories of Second-Hand Treasures

6/19/2018

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Stories are an important way for Saint Vincent de Paul to connect to the community by showcasing our clients, staff, programs, and volunteers. To two of our star volunteers, their stories are greatly influenced by books. Renee Matsumoto and Marne Chapin Schreiber are San Leandro natives who have graciously dedicated their time to a cause dear to their hearts. The SVdP thrift store in Fremont prides itself on its vast and organized book department, and it’s mostly thanks to Renee and Marne. Renee came across the thrift store due to her passion for reading. She says, “I love to read, and when I worked in Fremont, I found the SVdP thrift store. I was able to buy many books through the years at very reasonable prices. When I retired, I had made up my mind to volunteer at SVdP, but I really only wanted to work in the book department.” Renee’s wishes came true and she began volunteering in 2015, when the book department was much smaller, and, though enjoyable, it was too much work for her alone.
Fortunately, last year, Renee’s “prayers were answered” and Marne joined the team. Renee and Marne immediately clicked, with Renee recognizing Marne’s love to read from the beginning. Marne has had a life full of book-related jobs. She has been a library clerk at an elementary school and a high school, volunteered as a book mender and docent tour guide at Fremont’s main library, and became the publicity chair for the Fremont Friends of the Library. She worked as the publicity chair for twenty three years and had hoped to return to her volunteer work at the Fremont library upon retirement. Unfortunately, they weren’t looking for volunteers at the time. According to Marne, “[...] when God shut that door, he opened another one for me directly to Patty and right into the Saint Vincent de Paul thrift store in Fremont and their thousands of books!” Marne fell in love with the opportunity to work in her own “private library.”  

Together this team is unbeatable. They both agree that one of the best parts is meeting and working with each other. Renee comments, “Marne loves books as much as I do. We make a good team.” Marne returns the sentiment, saying, “We think so much alike and get along so well. It is a privilege to volunteer alongside her.” Presently, Marne and Renee only volunteer one day a week, but they are hoping to expand to two in the near future. The love and passion for this thrift store is apparent. Marne tenderly refers to the store as “our happy place.”  

Their similar mindsets have helped in the necessary reorganization tasks. They have focused on making the search for the perfect book more accessible to customers. “A big part of our reorganization of the store’s book collection has been breaking out special sections and identifying them with easily readable shelf labels. For example, we took a hodgepodge of books labeled ‘Literature’ and developed sections for ‘Writing,’ ‘Poetry,’ ‘Plays’ [...]” reveals Marne. Accessibility is key to sharing the wonderful world of reading and imagination with the community. Renee adds, “While we still have more to do, we are proud to show off the book department. No matter what our customers are interested in, we’re sure to have a book for them!”  

The SVdP thrift stores are a wonderful way to find things for a reasonable price. Better yet, the proceeds go to the SVdP programs and the mission of neighbors helping neighbors. Consider checking out one of the thrift stores (located in Fremont and Livermore) on your next shopping excursion. It is also worthwhile and welcome to donate gently used items to the thrift stores; your old books could become someone else’s next treasured story.  
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By Juli Jugan and Jessica Mott, Saint Mary's College of California



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80 Ways to Get Involved with SVdP for our 80 Year Anniversary

5/4/2018

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As we celebrate 80 years of service throughout Alameda County we are excited to be able to offer 80 ways to volunteer and get involved with St. Vincent de Paul.
If you are interested in doing one or more of these activities please reach out to Katie Troy, Volunteer Coordinator, at 510-877-9252 or at
volunteer@svdp-alameda.org, or visit our website at www.svdp-alameda.org.
Media, Networking, and Community  
  • How close can you get to 80? - Volunteer 80 times throughout the year in any of our volunteer activities and receive a prize at the end of the year.  Look for opportunities throughout this list. 
  • Boar interest – Serve as part of our Board of Directors. 
  • Approach your local business and ask them to support SVdP by making either an in-kind donation or a gift to SVdP. 
  • Connect four- Connect us to 4 people in your circle who may be an avenue for a new partnership. 
  • Extra, extra! -- Have connections with a local newspaper? Assist us in sharing a press release with them to get the word out about SVdP happenings.   
  • Share your story! - Share your history with our organization as we celebrate our 80th anniversary. It might just be featured in our monthly newsletter.  
  • Family recipe - Share with us a family cooking recipe for our Kitchen of Champions trainees to learn. 
  • Tell your friends – Share what you know about SVdP with your friends, family, and colleagues with the hope of getting more people involved in our mission. 
  • Lights, Camera, Action! - Volunteer your talents and create a video that commemorates the 80 years of service of St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County. 
  • Calling filmmakers – Need practice filming to build your portfolio? Capture staff, volunteer, and guests' stories at our downtown campus and thrift stores. 
  • Become a blogger – Work with the Development Department to plan unique stories to be featured on the SVdP blog. 
  • Leave a review – Share your experience with SVdP on websites like Yelp and Google for others to see. 
  • Like us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/SVdPalameda), follow us on Instagram (@svdpac), and check out our blog (www.svdp-alameda.org/blog). 
  • Tag us – Post a photo (tag @svdpac on Instagram!) or ask for support for SVdP through your social media accounts. 
  • Pray for us – Set an intention based on our mission and pray for it as much as you can. We appreciate all who think of us and our guests. 
Direct Services 
  • Everybody clean up- Get together a group to organize and clean out our downtown campus storage rooms. 
  • DIY Center refurbishments- Help with general maintenance, painting, and repair of facility. 
  • Remodel the Clothing Closet-Get together a group, bring the supplies, and come “refashion” our clothing closet-from painting to reorganizing to building new drawers and racks for storage. 
  • Got a green thumb?- Help us begin and/or maintain above ground veggie garden and planters. 
  • Serve 500 meals-Volunteer in our Free Dining Room and help us serve a hot and healthy meal to our guests, from 9am-1pm, open Tuesday through Saturday. 
  • Volunteer in our Men’s Guidance Center where we offer a safe space for men during the day to shower, do laundry, stay warm. 
  • Volunteer in our Women’s Visitation Center where we offer a safe space for women and children during the day to shower, do laundry, and stay warm. 
  • Be a shopping partner- Volunteer in our Clothing Closet and help people pick out free clothing. 
  • 80th Anniversary- Volunteer in the Development Department. Help us prepare for our 80th Anniversary celebration and fundraising events. 
  • Lions, tigers, and BOOKS, oh my! - Volunteer to sort books in our thrift stores. Our thrift stores are full of interesting books that need to be sorted so we can effectively re-sell them. 
  • Do what you do best- Have HR experience, an MBA, photography skills, carpentry, etc.? Lend your professional expertise to SVdP. 
  • Phone Center – Volunteer in our downtown campus phone center and gain a glimpse into the life of an everyday SVdP employee.  
  • Interview - Participate as an interviewer during our mock interviews for our Kitchen of Champions trainees. 
  • Volunteer in our Livermore Thrift Store, Monday through Sunday 10-5pm. Tasks include sorting and organizing merchandise. 
  • Teach - Provide a professional development or computer skills workshop for our Kitchen of Champions students 
  • Share a hobby- Have a hobby you can’t wait to share with others? Share it with our guests in our drop-in centers. 
  • It’s my party!- Volunteer to work with the Development team to put together a small gathering of friends, family, work colleagues, fellow church goers to raise funds.  It’s easy we’ll help. 
  • Volunteer in our Fremont Thrift Store, Monday - Sunday 10am -5pm. 
  • Volunteer in the Development Department - Identify/research potential partners and/or resources for collaboration. 
  • Hablas Español – Lead English as a Second Language (ESL) classes to our clients. 
  • Personal development workshops – Provide personal development workshops (e.g. body image, anger management, parenting) in either of our Drop-in centers. 
  • Conference support- Volunteer through one of our 37 affiliated parishes throughout Alameda County. 
  • Volunteer in our Food Locker; sort our products for easier delivery. 
  • Volunteer in the Dish Room – Make sure that our dining room has clean dishes for service in our dish room, open Tuesday-Saturday, 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM. 
  • Winter Shelter – Donate your time to volunteer in the North County Winter Shelter, open every day from 6:00 PM – 8:00 AM until June 11. 
  • Movie night – Get your friends together and host a movie night and dinner in the Winter Shelter. 
  • Data entry – Love clerical work? Assist our team in entering data into the ETO system to track our services. 
  • Open house volunteer – Volunteer at one of our community open houses, either for Back to School, Christmas, or Easter. 
  • Volunteer substitute – Want to volunteer but can't commit consistently? Sign up to be a volunteer substitute, and we will call you if a regular volunteer cancels. 
Donations 
  • Make it official- Provide ServSafe Certification Prep and tests for 4 Kitchen of Champions culinary training students- $500. 
  • Help us feed 80 children for a month- More than 31 million children received a free or reduced lunch at school. Help us organize a fundraiser to raise $6,864 to feed 80 children for one month over the summer. 
  • “Sharing is caring”- share/ donate time share, season tickets, rewards points, miles for us to raise funds for the organization. 
  • Change It – Start a competition between classes, families or individuals by giving them each a coin jar to collect change for a designated amount of time. The one with the most collected wins a prize, and donate all that is collected to SVdP. 
  • Skip a Meal – Join with your peers to commit to giving up a meal together and give the money saved to St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County. 
  • Provide course materials and supplies for 3 students- $250. 
  • Birthday Pledge – Ask for donations to SVdP instead of birthday gifts. 
  • Give it Up – Commit to give up a regular activity, e.g. buying a latte at Starbucks, or a bagel from Noah’s for a month, and donate the money you save to SVdP.  
  • Donate your gently-used furniture or household goods to any of our thrift stores. 
  • Hygiene kit drive- Collect hygiene kits or raise funds to purchase hygiene products for our drop in centers include: shampoo, conditioner, lotion, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant etc. 
  • Men’s Center Drive- Hold a drive for our Men’s drop-in center and include: socks, white t-shirts, underwear, sweat pants, etc. and make it a goal to collect at least 80 items. 
  • Women’s Center Drive- Hold a drive for our Women’s drop-in center and include: socks, shirts, pants, underwear, sweat pants, etc. Make it a goal to collect at least 80 items. 
  • Provide bus passes for 2 Kitchen of Champions trainees for 1 week - $100. 
  • Sponsor a student - Provide a scholarship for our one of our Kitchen of Champions culinary trainees - $450. 
  • Children’s Room Drive- Hold a drive for our children’s center and include: diapers, socks, shirts, pants, sweat pants, etc. and make it a goal to collect at least 80 items. 
  • Laundry supply drive- Last year our drop-in centers offered over 3,000 laundry services. This year help us provide more by organizing a drive for laundry supplies, like high efficiency liquid detergent, fresh towels, and laundry bags. 
  • Knife set-Provide starter chef knife rolls for 10 students- $1,000. 
  • Bake sale- Hold a bake sale at your school and donate the proceeds to SVdP. 
  • Read-a-thon – organize a read-a-thon at your school. Have each person collect donations for books they complete and donate the proceeds to SVdP. 
  • Take on a fundraising goal - as an individual or with a group, organize your own fundraising committee to raise $800 for one of our homeless service programs. 
  • Wages for a trainee - Provide wages for 5 of our Transitional Employees for a week- $1000. 
  • Top Chef- Provide a Chef Coat for 1 student- $50. 
  • Bike-a-thon- Organize a bike-a-thon and have each person collect donations for each lap they complete. Donate the proceeds to SVdP. 
  • Canned food drive- Collect canned goods in your school and make it a goal to collect at least 80 cans. 
  • Flash drive-Collect new or used flash drives for our trainees to use in job search. 
  • Support SVdP socials - Buy a ticket to at least one fundraising event. 
  • Happy feet- Donate a new pair of shoes or raise money to purchase new shoes to be given out at our podiatry clinic every month. Our goal is to collect 80 pairs of shoes. 
  • Help a trainee find a job- Donate or help us raise money for a job search tool kit, to include: resume paper, folders, pens, portfolio’s etc. 
  • Provide interview outfit for graduating trainee- Organize a professional clothing drive, work with friends, neighbors, family and provide for our trainees’ job search. 
  • Backpack school supplies – Ensure a child is prepared to go to school ready to learn.  Hold a school supply drive or raise funds to purchase school supplies for our annual back-to-school giveaway on August 4. 
  • Coat drive – Help keep our clients warm.  Organize a coat drive and donate to SVdP. 
  • Does your company match? - Check into your company’s matching program when you donate to potentially double your donation. 
  • Hold an e-waste drive- Over 2 million tons of electronics are dumped each year and only about 25% of those electronics are recycled.  Hold a drive and help us divert electronics from landfills. 
  • Layette set drive – Donate a layette set or raise funds to purchase layette sets for children in the Women’s Visitation Center. 
  • Toy drive – Help put a smile on a child’s face during the holidays!  Donate a new toy or help raise funds to purchase toys for our annual Christmas give-away. 
  • Diaper Drive – Host a diaper drive and bring the donations to SVdP. Our Women’s Center is always in need of wipes, baby powder, and diapers, especially in sizes 4, 5, and 6.
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The life changing benefits of music

4/3/2018

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We all know times when a song plays, and we are transported.  We go to another time, another place – it’s a powerful feeling.  Music can impact us in important ways, including benefits to our health, concentration, and in improving our stress and anxiety.  We support you in your quest for feeling better, looking better and getting great music right here at SVDP thrift.
 
To support your habit we are putting everything music on sale- you get better deal on it all!  CDS, vinyl, instruments, books- anything you find that is music related is yours for 30% off! 
 
That’s right folks, spin up your turntable, wipe down your fretboard- (or get one of ours, we have 12 guitars in stock) and come on in to get great deals at SVDP thrift, April 8-14
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Were celebrating National reading month - and Dr Suess's birthday

3/1/2018

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Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

“You’ll be on your way up! You’ll be seeing great sights! You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.”
​                                              Dr Suess
 We all know the benefits of reading; mental exercise, learning new things, relaxation, and best of all, escape from our phones.  What you may not know is the best place in the East Bay to buy those books is St Vincent de Paul Thrift Stores.  Make family story time a fun nightly tradition with these 50 classic children’s books. Or buy your best friend a summer book from the list of best novels in the last 25 years   Our stores stock over 5,000 books so you may find some of them right here on our shelves. Stocked daily, we alphabetize and categorize, so you can find what you’re looking for-and buy at a great price!  And while you’re there, check out the huge selection of DVDs, CDs and Vinyl,  
How do you get 30% off all books March 11-17? By using the secret phrase GREEN EGGS AND HAM of course!
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Painting Terra Cotta Pots, Mosaic Style in our Fremont Store on June 4th at 1pm

5/30/2017

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Come and join your neighbors Sunday, June 4th for the second in our series of monthly Sunday afternoon events. This time around, we will hold a FREE workshop where you can learn how to take a boring garden pot and make it into a unique colorful mosaic. Bring your own clay pot- NOT glass- or buy one from us. We will supply all tools, as well as coffee and pastries from Peet's and Arizmendi. Store staff member Paula will be leading the troops in what promises to be a fun and exciting afternoon.
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First Sundays at SVDP Thrift Fremont

5/9/2017

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​Last Sunday was the first ever First Sundays at SVDP Fremont.  We hosted 8 women (men are always invited!) for our sea glass workshop which was a fun and relaxing way for folks to get to know more about us and to meet some neighbors and community members. 
 
We're excited to continue our series with a Terra Cotta Pot project on June 4th, please stop by to see what we are up to or ,email fremont@svdp-alameda,org for more information.  
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Seaglass Workshop May 7 at Fremont Thrift Store

4/28/2017

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Fremont Thrift Store's First Sundays
Sunday May 7, 1-3 pm

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​Please join your friends and neighbors at the St Vincent de Paul store for the kick-off of First Sundays- starting with a seaglass workshop Sunday May 7 from 1-3pm.
We will be making seaglass from old glass vases or other glass items you can either purchase at the store (preferably) or bring from home. We will provide the additional simple materials and instructions required for this DIY project.

Fremont SVdP Thrift
3777 Decoto Road
Fremont
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Celebrate Dr Seuss' 113 Birthday, Book Artistry, Coffee and our newly improved (HUGE) book sections Feb 24-Mar 2!  

2/15/2017

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"You can find magic wherever you look, sit back and relax, all you need is a book!" -Dr Seuss
Our store book sections have cleaned out, spruced up, and organized- we are ready for our Read Across America Celebration! Stop on in and Buy 2, get 1 Free Book ! Come on in on Saturday and enjoy some coffee, browse the books and check out the Book Art of Katie Budai(Fremont only). From intricate cutwork scenes to paperfolding and furniture building, book art is an incredible use for retired books. Learn how to make a simple foldable piece with katie!
Fremont
3777 Decoto Road
Livermore
1817 2nd street
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“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”  -Dr Seuss
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Watch for our book section expansions and improvements!  Coming to an SVDP store near you!

1/6/2017

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An opportunity to come across something new, a chance encounter with a new friend, time alone to just browse- these are a few things that bring people in to bookstores. In this digital age it can be hard to to slow down, take your time, and lose yourself in a new idea or fantasy story. Bookstores provide all of this, bookstores are magical.

SVDP thrift has some great book browsing in their stores; with sections from crafts to cooking, bios to science fiction, there's something for everyone at our Fremont and Livermore locations. 

​March 2nd is national reading day and we are celebrating the beauty of reading great books by cleaning out the old, bringing in the new, reorganizing, beautifying, magical-izing and alphabatizing our book sections;  some of the largest local book stores in the East Bay! Stay tuned for our special celebration announcements and deals in February!

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5 fantastic reasons to choose secondhand in 2017!

1/1/2017

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There are truly more reasons than ever to shop for secondhand goods. Whether it's earth health, the fun of it, or finding great like minded people, there are lots of incentives for everyone to make thrift a big part of their 2017 shopping. Read on for some of our favorites, and please comment on any other great ones you have for being a thrift-aholic!​
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Second-hand items have a story.
There’s something much more rewarding about choosing a one-of-a-kind sweater or wild skirt rather than a generic piece from your fashion big box store. There’s the thrill of the find, the conversations you have along the way, or the truly unique looks that you can create.  Second hand just creates stories- from where they’ve been and what you make with them, to what you tell others about their journey. 
Saving (yours and the earths) resources and reducing waste.
There is already enough stuff in the world, and every time you buy new you feed the consumer demand cycle for creation of new goods.  Buying thrift is better for the environment, it saves resources, it reduces emissions, and those items don’t get shipped to the landfill. Oh, and let’s not forget about the $$ resources you save.
It’s more community-friendly.
Department stores and national or international chains are where most people buy their new clothes and furniture. These businesses rely on global supply chains and overseas manufacturing ordering huge quantities to keep costs low. They also encourage us to consume more and more.
Second-hand stores are mostly independent and local. Many stores are just regular folks, trying to make a living through selling excess stuff.  They hire local and often have a great community around the store that know the employees and each other. If you have the choice, why not choose to support local small business where you can get to know your merchants and neighbors and keep your money in the local economy.
It means stepping off the consumer treadmill.
For many, shopping can be a type of entertainment that means buying stuff that you didn't even know you needed until stepping into a store.  Many impulse purchases sit unused in closets (we see LOTS of these things in our donation room)  Marketers pull at us to shop for the newest trend or hottest items, and we frequently respond like palov’s dog regardless of what we need or even want.  Being more deliberate about the choices we make puts us back in control of our lifestyle- and our pocketbook.
BONUS:  Shop nonprofit and you serve people in your community
Thrift stores like St Vincent de Paul exist for all of the above reasons, but also to bring profits to our mission of helping our neighbors in need.  This includes food assistance, helping find housing or providing emergency shelter, to job training to provide a path to full time employment.  There are many choices you can make about where you shop for your thrift and secondhand items, choosing a nonprofit enterprise is one more thing you can use to make your shopping decisions count.  
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St Vincent de Paul of Alameda County:  2272 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland, CA 94612  |  510 638 7600
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