A touchy subject is close to being resolved. The Cook County Council on Aging has agreed in principal to changing course and granting 70 percent of the 2019 profits generated by sales at the First & Second Thrift Store to area non-profits.
The decision came at the board’s Wednesday, May 6 meeting but it came with a caveat.
“When Pat Zankman, manager of the First & Second Thrift Store, responds to the Council with definitive support for the 70 percent payout among the First & Second volunteer workforce, as per her proposal and commitment submitted to the Council this afternoon, the Council on Aging will proceed with the payout, and not until. We will have no other information available until Pat carries out the plan she set before the Council,” said Dale McIntire, the newly appointed chairperson for the Counsel on Aging.
Tensions rose when some First & Second Thrift Store volunteers learned the Council on Aging was going to withhold the $88,600 garnered from the thrift store, and 14 volunteers indicated they wouldn’t return if some of the money wasn’t distributed this spring to area non-profits.
At the Council on Aging’s February 4 board meeting, the plan was to host a payout party. That changed in March, when the governor ordered all non-essential businesses to close during the COVID- 19 pandemic.
When it became apparent that the thrift store wouldn’t be operational until the governor lifted his order, the Council on Aging, which legally owns and operates the First & Second Thrift Store, notified the 50 volunteers. “We understand this has been a difficult time for many of our non-profits, however, the Council on Aging has a responsibility to ensure the store remains fiscally responsible for itself. The payout will happen as soon as we are able to reopen when it is safe to do so and we have an income stream coming in.”
The letter also stated, “Although you, the volunteers, are our most important asset, the Council on Aging board’s primary mission must be to ensure that the store stays viable and does not go bankrupt.”
While the First & Second store is closed, expenses continue at about $3,000 per month, which was a big concern for the Council on Aging who like the rest of us, has no idea when businesses may be opened to the public.
Still, said Gerry Grant, one of the volunteer coordinators of First & Second, “The Council on Aging has $20,000 in reserve for times like this. Right now, (with the $88,600) the Council on Aging is sitting on three years of expenses. I find that upsetting and unnecessary.” .
Volunteers work shifts at the store and donate what they would be paid— this year, it averaged $17.50 per hour—to non-profits of their choice at the end of the year. In 2019, thirty seven Cook County non-profit organizations received checks.
Without a payout party, Grant said, “The volunteers probably assumed as I did, that the checks would be mailed instead.”
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