Philly AIDS Thrift Reaches Double Milestones
by: Tom Brennan, Press Release

Philly AIDS Thrift - 514 Bainbridge St

Other Local News Stories Tuesday: Sponsorship for non-discrimination bills to hit new record The Pennsylvania legislature's LGBT Equality Caucus and other legislative supporters will hold a Capitol news conference Tuesday to announce the largest-ever list of sponsors for non-discrimination legislation and a new major corporate supporter of the bills. Results of a recent poll about the bills also will be announced A New Hope tradition celebrates its first decade Known for appealing to everyone from everywhere, New Hope Celebrates will present a week of events and activities May 11-19, 2013 to commemorate lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and allies Pride in New Hope, Pa. and Lambertville, NJ. Dining Out for Life This Thursday Well over 150 restaurants across the Delaware Valley will donate 33% of the night's proceeds to benefit men, women and children with HIV/AIDS

Sep 13, 2010

Philadelphia, PA - Philly AIDS Thrift, the non-profit thrift store at 514 Bainbridge that benefits Philly area AIDS services providers, is celebrating two major milestones this month and is hosting a weekend of events to commemorate both.


Store Manager Tom Brennan describes the milestones. "We are five years old in September 2010, and with the check we presented to the AIDS Fund at Gay Bingo on September 9th, we have now surpassed two hundred thousand dollars in total cash contributions to Philly area AIDS organizations, we are now at $202,000, to be exact.
The amount of our most recent check was $8,000, and that tells a story in itself. Our first donation to the AIDS Fund on October 2005 was for $500, and the checks pretty much stayed at that level most of that first year. I can remember how excited we were when we wrote our first check for $1,000. After that, we just seemed to keep regularly bumping up the dollar amounts by $500 here and $1,000 there.



"We reached the level of $5,000 a month in 2009. This was especially significant to us because that was out pie-in-the-sky goal when we started talking about and planning the store in the spring and summer of 2005. We surpassed that goal in the spring of 2010 and started writing $6,000 monthly checks. With this most recent check, the board voted to take our biggest jump yet and pledge $8,000 a month going forward."



Mr. Brennan gives some perspective on this growth, "It occurred to me when looking at the numbers that it took us three years to get to our first $100,000 in donations, two years to get to our second 100k and now we are on track to reach the third hundred thousand in a little over a year. "



Store Volunteer coordinator Christina Kallas-Saritsoglou reveals the plans for celebrating these achievements, "None of this would have been possible without the amazing group shoppers, donors and volunteers who support us every day of the year. We wanted to do something special since this year's anniversary coincides with a fundraising milestone. We'll have cookies, cake, food, and refreshments all weekend long as we've done for previous store birthdays. And we'll have three days of unique 50% off sales. Friday, September 24th, anything in the store or warehouse that glitters, sparkles or shines is 50% off. Saturday, September 25th, anything that's black or has black in it is half off. And on Sunday September 26th, if it's made of wood or has wood in it, take 50% off its current price.



"What's really different this year is we decided to throw a real birthday dance party for the store on Friday night, Sept 25th, in our warehouse at 527 Bainbridge St, which is just across the street from our store. So from 8-11pm that night all ages are welcome to our free birthday bash. There'll be even more birthday decorations, food and refreshments, of course, but even better than that, the local legend of futuristic-retro beats and vibes, DJ K-Tell his-wonderful-self, will be providing the soundtrack for an evening of high jinks, nonsense and fun. We're going to keep the store open later that night as well, so we will be open all the time that the party is in swing. That's right, an entire evening of cake-eating, dancing and shopping. Heaven must look something like that."



Philly AIDS Thrift hosts its double milestone weekend, Fri-Sunday, Sept 24th-26th. Store hours that weekend are Friday--11am to 9pm, Saturday--11am to 11pm, and Sunday --11am to 7pm.



Philly AIDS Thrift opened its main store at 514 Bainbridge St in the fall of 2005. In 2006 it expanded to a warehouse sales and processing space at 527 Bainbridge. To date, Philly AIDS Thrift has donated $202,000.00 to Philly area AIDS service providers. In addition to its cash contributions, it partners with these same service agencies to provide free store vouchers to clients in need of clothing and household necessities.

Original Source: http://www.phillyaidsthrift.com