Step into St. John the Beloved Church’s thrift shop in McLean
and you are as likely to find a gently used designer dress as
you are a retiree committed to keeping the place going. Out
of the shop’s approximately 45 regular volunteers, Manager
Sue Clemente, a retired flight attendant and supervisor, said
“only four or five are not retired.”
Helen Kwiatkowski, 80, has volunteered at the tidy shop off
and on for 41 years. Her tasks have varied over the decades
but, these days, she relishes sorting clothing donations for
the women’s department. Her eyes light up when talking about
ready-to-wear from such fashion luminaries as Dana Buchman
and Adele Simpson.
“We’ll get Talbots, Jones New York and Burberry from
England,” said Kwiatkowski, who once worked in the costume
jewelry department at Hecht’s. “I can’t even name all of the
brands and designers we get. I’m thrilled (with our
donations.)”
She added that she continues to volunteer at the shop because
she loves helping people and she loves clothes.
Established in 1960, the parish-based thrift shop started out
as a uniform exchange for the parish grade school. Today, the
shop exists to fundraise for the parish, as well as diocesan
and national organizations. The shop fields donations from
parishioners and non-parishioners alike, and promotes its
weekly sales to a listserv of more than 200 members from
across the region. Listserv subscribers include everyone from
fashionistas looking for a bargain to families in need of
clothes, housewares and other items. The children’s
department is particularly beloved by the latter.
Rose McCauley, 57, who has volunteered at the thrift shop for
about 15 years, became involved in the children’s department
because she enjoys sorting through all of the “cute”
donations, which range from brand name formalwear to American
Girl books and more. She also puts together the department’s
seasonal displays for Christmas, Easter and Halloween.
After a 20-year career as a secret service agent, McCauley
said that she volunteers at St. John the Beloved
“because of the sense of camaraderie” nurtured by Clemente.
“Sue is a 24/7 person,” said McCauley. “She’s really invested
in this place, and has a tremendous work ethic. She leads by
example and has a good sense of the volunteers.”
Clemente credits the shop’s success on the quality of
volunteers as well as the quality of the donations they
receive.
“We are so blessed with really good donations,” said
Clemente. “Because of that, we (sort through everything) and
only put out the cream of the crop … one of our
regular shoppers calls our shop Tysons III.”
The rest of the donations are sent to local shelters and
charities, some of which sell the clothes to textile
recycling companies to raise funds for their missions.
In terms of recruiting more volunteers, Clemente said, “there
is always more room.”
Find out more
If you are interested in volunteering at St. John the Beloved
Church’s thrift shop, contact Sue Clemente at
[email protected].
Stoddard can be reached at [email protected].
