Jean Butler considers our thrift store as part of her family. At 84, she has been volunteering for the past six years at least four days a week sorting housewares at SVdP’s Surprise Thrift Store. Jean found herself craving something more out of retirement. She loved her late husband, Cliff, and cared for him, but she missed the rest of the world. “I wasn’t getting out much,” Jean recalls. “Cliff liked being kind of by himself. Not me. I’m a people person. I like being around people, so anyway I said one day, ‘Cliff, I’d like to do something to get out of the house. I’m going to go volunteer.’”
Never will she forget the day she inquired about volunteering after seeing an ad in her church bulletin. Jean was immediately greeted by the store supervisor. “She came right over and gave me a hug,” Jean remembers. The supervisor asked her to stay that day, but Jean couldn’t return until the next and she has been going ever since. The work keeps her active and spry. A petite lady, she lifts boxes, dives into huge bins of donations and gets things sorted, processed, priced and on the store floor for customers. “I do all the dishes, pots and pans, vases and statues,” says Jean, who is meticulous about quality control. She won’t put out anything with chips or cracks. “If I wouldn’t buy it, I won’t put it out. That’s the criteria.”
“Jean is our most-dedicated volunteer,” Surpirse Thrift Store Lead Diego Cruz says while wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “We absolutely love her.” As a retired office manager for a Valley medical practice — where she worked 27 years — keeping busy keeps Jean happy. She also appreciates the community impact of the service work. “That’s actually a big part of it, you know,” Jean explains. “It makes me feel good to know that I’m helping other people.”
She values that the store profits help support SVdP programming so families can have meals and people experiencing homelessness can have hot showers, case management and shelter. But more importantly, it’s the culture and the people that keep Jean coming back to the store. “I love coming into this place, to be honest. I love the people that I work with most of all. It makes me feel good to know that I have this place with these people.”
At St. Vincent de Paul, we’re grateful every day for all our volunteers who are the lifeline of our operations. We’re can’t say thank you enough. If you would like to volunteer, please visit our website today: Volunteer | The Society of St. Vincent de Paul (stvincentdepaul.net)
