Frequently asked questions

Here are some frequently asked questions:

I don't have any money, but can I still get something?

Absolutely! “Jackie's Attic” is a “set your own price” thrift store. Customers are encouraged to pay whatever is appropriate to their needs and budget. While we could just give everything away, we want all our customers to have the dignity of not feeling like a “free-loader,” and the value of contributing to a cause. For this reason, we offer customers who are not able to pay anything several alternatives to giving money. If you cannot pay anything, we encourage you to do any of the follow:

Praise the LORD! Whatever you received from us, you received in the name of Jesus. Thank Him and tell others about what the LORD has done for you.
Pay it forward! Do something nice for someone else -mow a lawn, shovel a walk, forgive an enemy, feed someone, fix something, etc.
Pay it back! Come by later and drop off some money when you get your paycheck or win the lottery. Volunteer to help with a project. We can always use volunteers to carry things, straighten things, help with renovations. We have plenty of bikes, motorcycles, furniture, tools that could be repaired. We would love your help!

What can I do to help?

I love this question! We have many projects we are working on and, depending on your skills and interests, there is plenty to do to help. We appreciate help with:

-building renovations

-food distribution
-hauling and moving people

-organizing, cleaning, sorting product

-childcare

-maintenance

-on-call assistance

-handyman services

-respite care

-housing

-job placement

-prayer

-cleaning services

-elder care and assistance

-mentoring

-fund-raising

-advocacy

-auto repair

-etc.

Contact me and we can set up a time to talk!

My grandma died and we are cleaning out her estate. Will you come pick up everything we don't want?

Maybe? If my schedule allows for it, I can often come by and see what you have, but I will probably only collect an item if I know of someone who can use it. This does not mean that I do not like you. This does not mean that I think your Grandma has bad stuff. It is merely because everyone's Grandma will die and they will all call me. I can spend the rest of my life collecting free stuff from deceased Grandmas, but unless I can get those items directly to someone who will pay me something, which is the real challenge with a "set your own price thrift store," free stuff costs me a lot of time and money. But, again, we love you and condolences on your loss.

Do you deliver?

Sometimes. We offer free delivery on any item within Virginia, as able. We will often deliver outside of Virginia, depending on the situation. Contact us to see whether delivery is available.

How do I donate?

If you are looking to donate money, you can write out a check to "Someone Ought To" and mail it to 217 Chestnut Street, Virginia, MN 55792. Or hand it to me in person, I like to meet the people who are supporting us! If you want to donate any other items, you can bring a bag or box at a time directly into the shop. Contact me directly for information concerning larger donations. Click here for our official policy on donations.

How come you help some people move and not others? Why did you pay that one persons' water bill, but you won't pay mine? How come you accepted 40 boxes of donations last week, but not this week?

Despite the appearance of altruism, we have an agenda in everything we do. Here are our motivations, ranked in order of importance:

We want to bring glory to God. If helping you will result in you praising the LORD, we will aim to do it. If you are part of a church and present as the type of person who is going to sing the LORD's praises, there is a pretty good chance I will help you move.
We want to affect positive change. We want to help people in a meaningful, sustainable way. If we give you a couch, we want you to still have it a year from now. If we pay your water bill, we want it to be the boost that lifted you to financial independence. If I have to pay your water bill again next month then we are merely "treading water" and not moving forward.
I want to do things I like to do. I enjoy going through boxes of toys. I do not enjoy going through bags of clothes. I enjoy spending time with many of you. I love you all, but some of you are just miserable. Even though I will pray for you and help you, I do not love to be trapped in a car with you. Again, I love you all . . . but you are not all fun.
We want to make the money we need in order to keep helping people.

Although I love working, I am highly motivated to get back to my family and couch as soon as possible. If you want me to do something other than hang out with my family it either needs to bring God glory, affect positive change, be really fun or make enough money to be worthwhile.

The most commonly asked question we get at “Jackie's Attic” (aside from “do you smell something”) is: “Are you accepting donations?” The answer is "yes." We do smell something . . . and we are always accepting donations. Unless my volunteers have been buried alive under a pile of someone's garage sale rejects, pleading reprieve from their mausoleum of soiled mattresses and broken picture frames -we are accepting donations. Every weekday, 10am to 4pm, we will take any donation. We prefer just a bag at a time. We prefer items to be dropped off not five minutes before closing. But, regardless, we will probably take the donation. (Our formal policy on donating can be found here.)

However, even though we will accept pretty much everything, not every donation is helpful. We will take your landline phones and TV Guides, but do we want them? No. And neither do you. And neither does anyone else. If it is your intent to have us save you a trip to the dump, we will dispose of your garbage for you. But for those of you who donate in order to help others, I have compiled a list of the top 5 most useful donations:

Money! Unlike unmatched shoes or expired canned goods, money can be exchanged for goods and services. We can use money to pay rent and utilities, renovate our new building, feed the hungry . . . cover the dump costs for disposing of unmatched shoes and expired canned goods. (We recently were approved for our 501c3 so, as an official charity, we are now obligated to ask for money.) The preferred way to "donate" money, of course, is to come by and shop!
Anything needed for a first apartment; We want to be able to take someone getting out of treatment or homelessness and set them up in their first place at little to no cost. Think "forks, spoons, towels, bowls, dressers" . . . do not think "drawer filled with soy sauce packets and discarded takeout menus" -though all are staples of the first apartment, some are helpful, some are not.
Anything we don't already have too much of; I always want to have a bed, couch, kitchen table, comfy chair at the shop. I never want to have more than two beds, couches, kitchen tables, comfy chairs at the shop. If your goal in donating is to help . . . come on by, walk through the shop, see what we can use, and donate that. If your goal is to just get rid of stuff, go ahead and throw more bags of clothes on the pile.
Anything you are willing to put away yourself Truth be told, if I am working the shop, it is because I want to talk with people or pray with people or answer my text messages or pretend to answer my text messages while I play chess. But it is never because I want to fold and sort strangers' underpants. I have never had someone walk through the front door with a thousand bags of women's clothes and thought “Golly! I can't wait to go through all that!” But if you have the time to put your donation away, or even the slightest idea where your donation should go, I cannot thank you enough for your donation!
Anything that has value or utility Before dropping something off, think, “If I was a person, would I want this?” Is it useful? Can it be sold? Will it sit on a shelf for a year and then just get thrown away? Is it a bowling trophy? We will take it. But do we want it? Does anyone? Did you?

Either way, regardless of the reason you donate or even the quality of stuff you bring in, we appreciate the love and support we have received from the community through all of your donations! And we apologize in advance for groaning when you bury us under another pile of clothes. Truly, we are grateful for you all! Except for the person who keeps bringing in bowling trophies. You are the worst.

Why don't you answer your phone or call me back?

Because there are too many of you. One of you is standing in front of me right now while two of you are leaving me voicemail messages. You all want me to carry something heavy or accept things that you don't want. Very few of you want to praise the LORD. Rarely are you looking to give me money. None of you are looking to give me extra time with my family. I will text you back when able. I can send you an email, but unless I get the sense that you are going to say something really funny on the phone, I am probably not going to call you.

What do you do with your profits?

Posted outside our shop, and on Facebook, and here on our website is a list of much of what we do. Not to brag, but we have some really kind people doing some really special work. But you did not ask this question because you wanted to know how we were going to use the 50 cents you gave us for the box of antique figurines. Very few people who ask bother to read the post outside our shop. The reason you asked how we use our funds is because you want the people profiting from you to be accountable. So, in answer to the real concern . . . we are not profiting from you. As president and owner, I don't take a paycheck and personally lose money every day I show up to volunteer. But I do it because I love you and Jesus. If you are really concerned, ask Goodwill or Hobby Lobby or Burger King how they use their profits, because they all have wealthy owners and CEO's and not one of them helped any of you move this week.

That being said, we do want to be as transparent as possible concerning our finances.