To see how much Jennifer Pizzoferrato loves resale shops, you need look no further than her forearm. The “Thrift or Die” tattoo says it all.
So when she was looking for a worthwhile way to spend her time during an extended stay with relatives, the 30-something thrift store enthusiast went from shopper to volunteer. She did five shifts a week at Family Renew Community’s Secret Attic Thrift Store.
“They took me right in,” says Jennifer, who along with her young son was here from Louisiana, staying with her in-laws while her husband was deployed in Iraq. Her husband returned home safely, and she left Ormond Beach. But she still stays in touch with her fellow volunteers from her Secret Attic days.
Volunteers are essential to the Secret Attic, and therefore essential to Family Renew Community’s mission of helping homeless families with children. The store’s small staff — just Manager Barbara Bradley, and associates Christopher Whitewood, Chris Duncan and Conner Stanish — relies on them to accept and process merchandise donations, help customers, keep the racks and shelves stocked and tidy and run the cash register.
