St. Charles Furniture & Thrift Celebrates Grand Opening

March 11, 2019 – On Saturday, March 9, community leaders and neighborhood residents gathered to celebrate the grand opening of St. Charles Thrift & Furniture, “a store that means more,” with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting. The resale store, located at 6731 W. Greenfield Ave. in West Allis, provides an affordable retail option for the neighborhood while offering essential job and life skill training for local youth.

“This is truly a store that means more – to our community, to the youth we serve and to our customers,” said President of St. Charles Youth and Family Services Cathy Connolly. “Every customer interaction is an opportunity for our youth to learn, and every purchase directly funds our youth employment services.”

The store is operated by St. Charles Youth and Family Services to provide meaningful work experience for students in the St. Charles Youth Employment Services (Y.E.S.) program. The Y.E.S program teaches essential skills needed for life-long employment. Youth follow one of two classroom tracks – retail/customer service or custodial care – where they learn industry-specific skills such as communication, interviewing, resume writing and collaboration. Youth employees then gain real-world experience by working in the thrift store. The on-the-job training incorporates opportunities for students to practice the hard and soft skills required for them to secure their first part-time, entry-level job.

“We’re so proud of the youth in our program, without whom we could not operate this store,” said St. Charles Program Manager Danny Beaird. “When you visit St. Charles Furniture & Thrift, it is our students who will greet you when you arrive and support you in each part of your customer journey. We encourage St. Charles shoppers to engage in conversation with our student-employees and ask about what they’ve learned here.”

Students take on responsibility for all aspects of store operations, including securing, sorting and pricing donations and working with customers at all points of interaction, including in the aisles and at checkout.

The ceremony kicked off with remarks from program representatives and community leaders, including Lindsey Draper, President of the Board of St. Charles Youth and Family Services, Cathy Connolly, President of St. Charles Youth and Family Services and Brian McBride, Director of Wraparound Milwaukee. Y.E.S. program students were introduced and presented to the audience as official program graduates. They joined St. Charles representatives in the ceremonial ribbon-cutting to mark the store opening.

St. Charles Furniture & Thrift is a component of St. Charles Youth and Family Services’ workforce development program. Since the program’s 2012 inception, 1,090 young people have completed the training, resulting in 61,416 hours of work experience.

St. Charles Furniture & Thrift store accepts donations of clothing, household items, and home and office furniture. The store is open weekdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. To learn more about the store or how to donate, visit thrift.stcharlesinc.org.

About St. Charles Youth and Family Services:

St. Charles Youth and Family Services provides 24-hour care, community-based programs, case management and workforce development for youth. For more information, visit stcharlesinc.org. St. Charles Furniture & Thrift, an offset of St. Charles Youth and Family Services, provides professional development and workforce training. For more information, visit thrift.stcharlesinc.org.

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