Step into the vibrant world of Arc Thrift, where inclusivity and community support go hand in hand. In this episode, Maggie explains how Arc Thrift is a major employer of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, detailing how their unique hiring process and positive work environment create meaningful opportunities for many. Learn about their exciting upcoming events, like the annual sweater sale, and how you can participate in supporting both the environment and your local community through thoughtful donations and shopping at their stores.
Hey, it’s Mike Triem with KLTT and Maggie from Arc Thrift. Maggie, thanks for taking a little time.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER 01 :
So what’s going on in your crazy Arc Thrift world, Maggie?
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, my gosh. It’s that time of year again, right? We are cruising up to Feed Colorado season where we partner with our friends at Volunteers of America to collect the most food in the state. So that’s right around the corner. I always want to let people know that, yes, we love your gently loved donations of household items and furniture. kitchen items, all those things. But we, of course, take your non-virtual food items as well to benefit over 70 food pantries across the state.
SPEAKER 01 :
So, Maggie, even as people hear this interview, if it’s not officially time, can they still give food items? Can they just make that part of their art thrift routine?
SPEAKER 02 :
One hundred percent. Yes. Yes. We encourage it year round. We really work with Volunteers of America to help them with their food pantries. And again, they service 70 food pantries across the state. That’s all the way to Glenwood Springs. out there in Grand Junction, up to northern Colorado, all the way down to Pueblo. So everywhere in between needs food, and these food banks are really desperate. And like you said, we’re trying to create a routine. When you’re cleaning out your closets, hey, why not clean out the pantry as well? We’ll take all your non-perishable food items. We love cheddar pasta and, of course, canned food items.
SPEAKER 01 :
We love the concept, too, of go to the store, be intentional and say, all right, this part of my cart or a second cart, this is for food for Arc Thrift. Because you’re always going to have items in your home. You’ve always got something that needs a trip to Arc Thrift. I know we do. We’ve got that hanging around. We just have to make these periodic trips. So get some food when you go to the store and just purpose that and think about the high protein, high need things that food pantries need. Do they communicate that to you, Maggie, and talk about what they need the most?
SPEAKER 02 :
Absolutely. And you stated it really well there. It’s those high protein items, the canned beans, canned vegetables, the peanut butters, the nut butters of any kind. Those are huge. And pasta, super easy as well. You know, the other big thing is like your hamburger helper, those kind of easy to make meals. Those are really great. They go off the shelves very quickly, so those are always good. And then granola bars, things that kiddos might want. As long as it’s shelf-stable, that’s the most important thing for these food pantries. They are not able to store as much of those fresh food items, so shelf stability is super important.
SPEAKER 01 :
So peanut butter, canned tuna, canned chicken. Some of those soups, you know, the hungry man soups and different things like that can be also have pretty good protein and progresso. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yep. And this time of year, it’s so interesting with this weather, Mike, we’re really seeing this influx of donations, which is fantastic. We couldn’t be more excited. excited about how generous Coloradans are. And we’re noticing that people, yes, they’re cleaning out their pantries, cleaning out garages and basements, and then they’re coming in to shop as well. So we couldn’t be more delighted. We feel like thrift is cool. It’s no longer this taboo subject. People are proud to say, I bought this item secondhand.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, we have numerous staff members here that love Arc Thrift and go there and they’ll have the proud little, see what I’m wearing. I got this at Arc Thrift.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thanks, it’s thrifted, yes.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, well, especially the ladies will tell me, look, this maybe got worn once or maybe it never got worn and they’ll have brand new looking outfits, you know, and it’s just, it supplements, it helps and for some people makes a real difference.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, it’s kind of a point of pride for a lot of people. And they’re proud to say, I only paid X amount for it. I love to hear that. When I overhear people saying, oh, thanks, it’s thrifted, it brings me joy.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, there’s some things that don’t make sense that are new to buy new. Talk about, so in January, February, people listening to this interview will hear kind of in that timeframe, what are some of the biggest needs or is it just like everything?
SPEAKER 02 :
You know, needs this time of year, you know, those cold weather items that your kids have grown out of those, you know, coats, jackets, light hoodies, long sleeve knits, I call them, you know, the long sleeve knit category, those kinds of things that we’re going to be needing. I mean, we’ve had this like really mild winter, but you know what’s headed our way, right? I mean, we’re going to have a situation where we need to clothe a lot of people. People are not buying those items right now, but they will be very shortly. So I’m always pushing for those type of donations. I’m getting a lot of questions right now about Christmas decor, if we’re taking it yet. The answer is yes, we’ll take it year round and then we’ll store it for that season. So never hesitate. Don’t hold on to those things that you think are out of season. Go ahead and bring them into us. We have a really, really robust storage program where we are saving for specific seasons so that we’re not putting out a Christmas tree in July. But if you bring us one in December, January, February, March, we’ll save it and make sure it gets out next Christmas.
SPEAKER 01 :
We’re speaking with Maggie from Arc Thrift. It’s arcthrift, A-R-C, thrift.com. And Maggie, that’s one of the advantages of having almost 40 now thrift stores and plus your collection centers and everything else going on is you have those big warehouses where you can say, all right, put that in the warehouse. Here’s where it goes. And then next Christmas, it’s out.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, we’re really proud of our storage system. I think it really sets us apart from our competition. We also are considered one of Colorado’s largest recyclers. We kind of make a game, it’s a challenge to ourselves, our stores. Who does the best in terms of having the lowest trash bill? We want to save as much as possible from Colorado landfills. We’re really proud. It’s a point of pride for us. And every year our store is kind of, you know, volley for that top tier. We had the lowest trash bill kind of bragging rights. We’re really proud of it. It’s something we take very seriously. And we think that that’s why Coloradans trust us with their donations. They know we’re going to do everything possible to save them from landfill and give them a second life.
SPEAKER 01 :
Maggie, reminder listeners about who they’re helping because when they shop at Arc Thrift or they donate, those ambassadors, people with developmental disabilities across the state of Colorado and beyond get helped.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. I mean, another point of pride for us, and there are a lot in our world, which we’re so lucky that I get to go to sleep every night feeling good about what we do. But we’re one of the largest employers in the state of Colorado of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. so that means about 20 percent of our workforce is someone who identifies as having a disability now not all people you know it’s up to you if you decide to identify as having a disability or not but it’s really you know putting our money where our mouth is when you walk into our stores you’re going to see differently abled people that are making a difference working for a purpose and gosh we all want to have a reason to get up in the morning and you know this is a paycheck social life for many of our kiddos. And they are hardworking adults who, you know, really have meaning and purpose in their lives and bring value to our system in terms of being a cashier, a greeter, someone who hangs clothes, someone who rags out clothes, someone who prices clothes. These are wonderful individuals who bring a lot to our environment. And we’re proud to be one of Colorado’s largest employers and people with IDD.
SPEAKER 01 :
And we’re proud to be partners with you, too, to sign up. Now, intellectual and developmental disabilities, that means people that are in what position? Because it’s important. I think sometimes our listeners may not understand who’s who you’re helping. Sure.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, I mean, and this is such a wide spectrum, right? We’re talking individuals who are on the autism spectrum. That could be very high-functioning individuals to very low-functioning individuals who come to us with a job coach. It’s people with cerebral palsy who maybe are differently abled in terms of they’re in a wheelchair. They walk with a walker. And then our friends with Down syndrome as well. All of these people are on a different scale in terms of their ability. And what we do, we love to say, we don’t do interviews. We do conversations. So if you come to us with a job coach, a parent, a guardian, or on your own as an individual, and you identify as having one of these disabilities, we will work with you and find out what you’re interested in and what part of the store would be the best fit for you in terms of finding a job that is meaningful to you and that you enjoy, which is what we all are looking for, right?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes. And I think that’s kind of that’s kind of some of the secret sauce of Arc Thrift, where as someone walking in the store, unless you intentionally say, oh, that’s somebody that I’m helping that seems to love his or her job, you know, or or just knowing when you drop off and donate the guys that help you at the curb. Well, that’s just the start of who you’re helping.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, it really is such a wonderful environment. And, you know, our typically abled individuals who work with us tend to stay longer. It’s really hard to not enjoy your job when you’re working next to someone with Down syndrome who believes this is the best job in the world. So we find that morale is improved, revenues improved. Going to work for our typically abled individuals is a fun thing. It’s a great time to feel like you’re part of a wonderful community of differently abled people and doing something that feels good to go to work each day.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s super good because with our thrift, that joy when you go in the stores, that’s kind of something that people mention. It’s fun to go. It’s not, oh, it’s dark and dreary. These are my buddies. Yeah. And everybody’s depressed. It’s like, somebody’s really glad to be there at work and you don’t get that everywhere.
SPEAKER 02 :
So, yep. It’s a wonderful feeling.
SPEAKER 01 :
What are a few other things as we’re kind of in the throes of winter, but spring’s coming around the bend things we’d want our listeners to be thinking about.
SPEAKER 02 :
I always love to plug this. I know this will air end of January, beginning of February. I will go ahead and tell you that our sweater sale right around the corner is going to be Friday, February 6th. That’ll be 9 to 9. Every sweater in the store will be $1. You heard it here first, Mike. We don’t usually announce this for another week, week or two, in fact. But I’m going to tell your listeners that we are going to hold that 99-cent sweater sale. It’s one of our biggest sales of the year, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. And literally every sweater in the store, men’s, ladies’ and kids’ will be 99 cents each.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s crazy. So you can stock up on a couple of sweaters.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, yeah. But we’re talking cartloads for most people. Yeah.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, you’ve got, you know, if you ski or snowboard or do that kind of stuff, you’ve got that. But also just our weather as we speak this morning, it was cold and it’s been kind of warm. So you don’t know what you’re going to get.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s a layering thing, right? Coloradans, we are like… a hundred percent into our layers and sweaters are a part of that layering process. So people love this sale. They get very excited. People come from Wyoming, Montana, Kansas, New Mexico to come shop this sale. So it’s pretty, it’s pretty wild.
SPEAKER 01 :
So sweater sale, Friday, February 6th, we’re getting everybody kind of a heads up nine to nine 99 cents.
SPEAKER 02 :
Amazing.
SPEAKER 01 :
Okay, that’s pretty sweet. And then as we get into springtime and people start, because we’ll blink now and people start thinking, gardening? Maybe I can actually get outside and it’ll be, you know, decent weather. What do I do? You have options, don’t you?
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, yeah. You know, our furniture department, that’s where we store all of our gardening supplies, everything you could need for your backyard. I always say this is a great time to stock up on those things because with the weather changing, when it does, when we finally get to that March and April, those items will be flying off the shelf. So a good time to go get those planters, all of your shovels, your hose, your rakes, all of that stuff. We have all of it. And really unique finds where you’re like, what is this? I didn’t know I needed this for my backyard. I’m going to buy it. Furniture for the backyard, furniture for the playrooms, all that stuff that’s sitting in your garage collecting dust, you can donate and we’ll get it out on our floors and give it a second life.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s a good one. I think a lot of people do have outside furniture, chairs, table, you know, whatever that they have stored or they’re not using. Just give somebody else a chance, right?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, give it a second life. I always love to hear the stories and people always talk to us about the stories of the things they’re donating. Oh, this was my mother’s. This was my grandfather’s. And the people that buy these things really cherish those kinds of stories and they love to pass it along. So I always feel like you’re saving a piece of history. You’re rescuing history when you shop secondhand and you’re also rescuing it when you donate. So it’s a feel good on both ends, a win-win for everyone.
SPEAKER 01 :
So how do our listeners participate?
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, we’d love it if you shop. Like you said, our almost 40 stores across the front range. We did just open our store in Glenwood Springs. We’re very proud of it. So if you go up to hit the hot springs or to ski, the Glenwood Springs store is open and doing an amazing amount of business there. We’re very excited about it. And then, of course, 15 donation stations if you’re looking for a place to donate. All the stores accept donations as well at the back door. And you can find us online at www.arkthrift.com. For all the details, you can visit our website.
SPEAKER 01 :
And Maggie says, bring food with you. Canned goods, peanut butter.
SPEAKER 02 :
Don’t forget the canned food. Yes.
SPEAKER 01 :
High-protein things. That’s what we need. Well, Maggie, thanks for taking the time with us. We’re grateful for you and for Ark Thrift.
