Shelving Items at St. Vincent DePaul Third Experience

On November 10, 2007, I did my third service learning project in the morning at St. Vincent DePaul. This time, I was in charge of bringing a variety of miscellaneous items from the warehouse, where they had been priced, into the store where they could be sold. I worked with a variety of items such as decorations, kitchen necessities, vases, Christmas items, computer materials, children’s toys, and crafts. I had to search around for the right shelves to put them on. The store was quite busy with customers on this day, and I always felt that I was getting in the way of the customers.

One thing that I really began to realize during this time at St. Vincent DePaul was how much people really do need and want all the things that others no longer need or use. It seemed that every time I put down several items on a shelf, many of them would be gone five minutes later when I came to put more items in that aisle. As I put down many things, I thought to myself, “Why do they even bother putting this out? This isn’t worth buying.” Then, to my disbelief, those items would be gone next time I came down the aisle. This reminded me all the random things that would not sell at our garage sales that my family would take down to a similar store in the area where I grew up. I always knew that it was good to donate our used things, but I never realized how many people need them and will buy them at low prices.

~Kristin P.