BY KATHI STEARNS

Staff Writer

DORAVILLE--Archbishop John F. Donoghue will bless the new site of the St. Vincent de Paul Particular Council thrift store at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 21.

The new store, located at 5748 Buford Highway, replaces the Particular Council's former store which was located for the past 20 years at 3660 Clairmont Road. The new store, which held its grand opening last July 6, is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The new facility is accessible to the handicapped and on its single floor has a square footage of 12,000 feet which triples the space of the Clairmont store.

"Our donations had increased and we had used every inch of space that was available at the old store," said Sheila Bissonnette, executive director of the SVDP Particular Council. "We had talked to the owner about expansion, but there was just no room to do this and the owners had no interest in allowing us to purchase the facility. Personally, I felt that if we didn't move to a larger location we would stop growing. People who came into the store to drop off donations would see piles of stuff and wonder why they had gone out of their way to donate their clothing to the society. But what they didn't realize was that 50 to 70 percent of the donations received can't be used and are either given away or sold for rags at eight cents a pound."

Last year the society gave away $99,567 of free merchandise to people referred by 60 agencies. Over 5,215 individuals who did not have the means to purchase items at the thrift store were assisted by this outreach.

"We consider giving away merchandise a valuable part of our ministry," said Bissonnette. "We want to be able to keep up this ministry. It is all a matter of space."

Bissonnette said the new site has allowed the society to increase sales goals from $17,000 a month to $32,000.

"This figure is our challenge goal," Bissonnette said. "But if we can turn a profit of $40,000, that money can then be used to assist those in need with their rent, mortgages or utilities."

Bissonnette said the new location is convenient to a MARTA bus line and is located near low-income housing.

"The demographics of the area indicate that people who normally would do their shopping at a thrift store are within walking distance of the area," Bissonnette said. "It is nice to be conveniently located near the people you are trying to serve."

Jan Majors has replaced Carolina Colin-Antonini as the thrift store manager. Colin-Antonini, who worked at the thrift store for seven years while attending law school at Georgia State University, is now employed as a lawyer for Catholic Social Services.

"Carolina was very creative as a thrift store manager and worked very hard to blend good business sense with our ministry," Bissonnette said. "She developed a sense of team spirit among the staff; they would take pride in knowing that they were assisting people while simultaneously reaching financial goals."

Majors is now responsible for the day-to-day operation of the store and also coordinates activities of stores run by SVDP parish councils.

"The Particular Council assists with arranging pick-ups and deliveries for parish chapters and also for the sale of rag merchandise," Bissonnette said.

While she would like to see the number of parish chapter thrift stores increase, Bissonnette also hopes to expand the mobile thrift store ministry which takes merchandise to communities which lack a thrift store in their area.

Currently five parish chapters of SVDP operate thrift stores in the Archdiocese of Atlanta. They are St. Patrick's, Norcross; Corpus Christi, Stone Mountain; St. John Neumann, Lilburn; St. Catherine of Siena, Kennesaw and St. Lawrence in Lawrenceville.

"Even though it is not the most important work we do, our thrift stores are our most visible presence in the community," Bissonnette said.

To volunteer at a thrift store, arrange for a furniture pick-up or receive information on how to start a parish SVDP thrift store call Majors at (770) 457-9798.