At the Cook County Council on Aging’s (CCCOA) August board meeting, a decision was made to release the final $36,000 garnered from the 2019 operation at the First and Second Thrift Store.
The money will be awarded to area non-profits as selected by the volunteers.
Business has been brisk at the First and Second Thrift store, but no one could have known that when a decision was made in February 2020 to hold back some of the money. At that time the state was in a lockdown because of the COVID-19 rules that kept stores and bars and restaurants closed. CCCOA, which is in charge of the store, kept some of the money in reserve to pay bills that never cease, pandemic or no pandemic.
The original plan in February 2020, was to hold the annual pay-out party at the The Hub (senior center) and hand the checks out to representatives of the 36 non-profits that included churches, schools, social services programs, the care center etc.
Instead, a total of $62,024.24, was divided among the 36 local non-profits and mailed Wednesday, May 13, 2020. A statement from CCCOA at the time said that the additional 30 percent would be held in reserve until the store “recovers from any setbacks as a result of the shutdown or of the highway construction. Expenses to reopen and stay open will be accessed from the 30 percent, if necessary. Any of the 30 percent that remains, once the store is profitable again, will be distributed at a time to be determined later.”
While the First and Second Thrift Store was closed, the bills continued at about $3,000 per month.
At the end of the year the volunteers who worked at First and Second have their hours added up and a dollar amount per hour is assigned to those hours. Last year an hour of labor was worth $17.50. The volunteers, who numbered about 50 last year, then assigned their earnings to a non-profit.
After a COVID-19 plan was developed, the First and Second Thrift shop opened in late May. Lois Johnson, a volunteer organizer, said, “Thanks especially to our volunteers, donors, and customers, things are going very well. It has been wonderful to spend time with our regular and new customers. Stop in!”
The thrift store is located on the north side of Highway 61 in Grand Marais, across from the Dairy Queen.
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