Another Way to Look at It
Dear FreeStore Friends,
Recently, my sister and I made a decision to
move my mother, who is 87 years old, into a
nursing home. One of the things that we
dreaded having to do was cleaning out her
apartment and having to decide what to do
with all of her furniture and household items.
Many of the things in her apartment were
items that came from the original house that
my sister and I grew up in. Consequently, we
didn't relish the thought of parting with some
of those things.
It wasn't until we discovered the FreeStore
that we realized that we could give all of these
items a "new life" with people that really are in
need of them. The cause that you serve is very
dear to the hearts of my sister and me and we
were honored to be able be of assistance to
your clients who are in need. In fact, when the
truck drove away
from my Mom's
apartment, I may
have had a tear or
two in my eyes.
They weren't,
however, tears of
sadness. They
were tears of joy,
knowing that
someone in need
would have a smile on their face when they received some of my Mom's items.
My sister and I congratulate you on the wonderful work that you do and hope that you will
be able to continue it in the future.
Bill Mogolov, Clive, Iowa
Debra Mogolov Damsky, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Remember the new FreeStore Phone Number: 282-3733
FreeStore Update
Wow! The numbers from
2009 have all be tabulated
and what a year it was for the
FreeStore and its volunteers.
We hope devoutly that someday our services will no longer
be needed, but that day has
yet to come, and until it does
we are pleased to be able to
serve so many.
We started CY2009 with an
inventory of $85,000 and at
year end had shipped
$401,000 to 258 client requests. Items shipped—
7642, value shipped—
$401,928, tonnage shipped—
187, adults served—278 and
children served—388; all were
record numbers for FreeStore
in 2009.
So far it looks like 2010 will
also see the FreeStore serving
lots of families. Through
March of this year we’re a little
behind last year. It’s progressing more like 2008,
which also had a bad winter.
So far - through the end of
March - we’ve served 49 requests and shipped $66,469
worth of items.
Thanks to special donations,
the $$$ for Dressers project
has really taken off. To date
56 dressers have been made.
Earl Lemke (with the help of
his wife Kathy Kellen and a
couple of friends, Harry Swanson and Chip Meadowcroft)
has made 26. The FreeStore
is especially grateful to members of the Carpenter’s Union,
who made 15 dressers and to
Dewey McMillan who gathered
crews to make an additional
15. The average cost of
Display Page 3
dresser materials is $42.21.
The cost was kept low because
Earl Lemke made two dressers
from left-over dining room table leaves!
Project Clean Start is also
going well. We received a
grant from Des Moines Jr.
Women’s Club to purchase
Project Clean Start items and
St. Francis of Assisi brought
in several boxes of supplies
from their Lenten Drive.
What we really need now is a
supply for twin/bunk beds.
So if you hear of any local colleges who are changing out
dorm rooms, let us know.
We’ll be glad to travel the
state to pick them up!
Thank you to all of you who
so generously support the
FreeStore.