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closeThirty years ago, the members of Calvary Temple started a ministry to provide clothing and household items to people in need.
This Saturday, Aug. 16, We Care will celebrate three decades of helping others.
It's a lean operation run by volunteers, with clothing, kitchenware and other items donated by local businesses and individuals. About 30 people show up on a typical day to buy clothing - two bags full for $3, four bags for $5 - and to browse for other stuff.
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What: 30th anniversary celebration for We Care, a Christian agency that provides clothing and household items to needy people.
When: Noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 16.
Where: 3550 Meridian Street, Suite No. 2, behind Family Christian Stores.
Phone: 647-5415.
"Our goal is to help people in need," said Larry Newland, a board member and We Care's unpaid executive director. "We have people who have been giving for years and years and years, and people who have been coming for years."
We Care's anniversary comes on the wake of a new community connection, one that should provide a steady supply of furniture for the Christian agency.
The local franchise of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, a junk-removal service, will now set aside and deliver salvageable furniture to We Care, which will resell most of them at prices low enough for most budgets.
A couch might sell for $10 to $80, a dresser for $15 to $80. High-end pieces go for more because, after all, the sale of furniture goes a long way to helping We Care cover its rent.
Still, affordable clothing is the mainstay, thanks to a stream of quality togs donated by local consignment shops and clothing stores.
Furniture has been more hit-and-miss. Donors regularly call with offers of free furniture, but We Care only accepts clean pieces in good shape, although a volunteer can refinish or repair some wooden furniture. Donations range from used coffee tables to antiques to bedroom sets that normally sell for $10,000.
"We never know what we're going to get," Newland said.
Or how much.
The furniture supply could even out now that GOT-JUNK is involved. The franchise operates two large trucks to collect junk from homes and businesses in Whatcom, Skagit and Island counties.
"Junk" is probably the wrong word to use. "Unwanted resources" makes better sense.
The national company urges its franchises to have 60 percent of the material they collect recycled or re-used. Jeremy Tunnell, general manager of the local franchise, estimates the Bellingham operation is approaching the 80 percent mark.
Company drivers know to separate salvageable items from throwaway junk when they load their truck. The same day, or soon thereafter, they drop off recyclables, take construction items to RE Store, electronic gear to Safe and Easy Recycling, and household goods to assorted charities.
GOT-JUNK has also held quarterly junk sales at its Meridian Street warehouse and donated the proceeds to nonprofit groups.
Gerry Ebalaroza-Tunnell, local manager for sales and marketing, said it would be unseemly double-dipping to resell salvageable items that customers pay to have hauled away. She prefers to find community outlets for the good stuff that other people no longer want.
"It's a good way for us to spread the wealth," she said.
About a month ago, she learned about We Care. She hadn't heard of it before.
That's the way it is for the quiet agency. With no money for advertising, fliers and word-of-mouth is it.
"People that are really in need know about us," Newland said.
Contact Dean Kahn at dean.kahn@bellinghamherald.com or 715-2291. Read his Now and Then blog at TheBellinghamHerald.com/blogs.
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