Welcome to the wonderful world of the PTA Thrift Shop! As long as you have kids in the Chapel Hill and Carrboro school system, you’ll be hearing about the PTA Thrift Shop. Please take a few minutes now to browse our website and learn about the PTA Thrift Shop. Your involvement will be important to your children for years to come. The Basics The PTA Thrift Shop, Inc. is a non-profit resale business operated for the benefit of the Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) of the public schools located in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. We have two retail locations – one located on Jones Ferry Road in Carrboro (967-1272), the other in the Village Plaza Shopping Center (next to Whole Foods) in Chapel Hill (942-6101), and our Donation Center up and around the corner, behind the laundry, in the same building. (942-9412). The profits from our stores are divided among the district’s PTAs according to student population and volunteer hours. The PTA Thrift Shop is a major source of funding for all elementary school PTAs and for virtually every club, team, music group and other student organization in the middle and high schools. Historically, PTA Thrift Shop money has helped fund a large part of your PTA’s budget, paying for teaching materials, landscaping, playground equipment, cultural arts programs, computers, library books, Discovery Lab equipment, school wide events and a host of other things. There is no other fundraiser that begins to generate this kind of revenue. Indeed, strong support of the PTA Thrift Shop can dramatically reduce the need for other school fundraisers. We encourage you to continue supporting the Thrift Shop so that we, the PTA Thrift Shop can continue to support our PTAs and our kids!! Ways to Increase Your $: Shop, Donate and Volunteer Every school’s goal is to maximize the amount of money its PTA receives from the PTA Thrift Shop. There are 3 ways to further this goal and to raise money for your school: Shop at the PTA Thrift Shops. The best way for the PTA Thrift Shop to increase our profits is to increase our revenue. To make more money, we must broaden our customer base and bring more paying customers in the door. You can all help by shopping with us and by promoting the PTA Thrift Shop to other parents, friends and neighbors. Store hours are 8:30am to 6:00 pm Monday through Saturday (our Plaza location is open on Sunday, 1pm to 6pm.) Donate high quality goods to the PTA Thrift Shops. The PTA Thrift Shop makes money by selling donated goods, including computers, furniture, books, house wares, sports equipment, toys, appliances, electronic equipment and lots of other stuff in addition to clothing. Of course the “good stuff” brings in the most money! In the words of one of our long time School Reps, “Be a hero - donate your “good stuff” to the Thrift Shop!!” Volunteer. We thank you in advance for volunteering your time and efforts to the PTA Thrift Shop. With your volunteer efforts you can help save employee time and the corresponding expense. While volunteers do not generate revenue, they can, when used effectively, significantly lower our costs. Working in the stores is the most efficient and effective use of volunteer time. And, of course, volunteer hours are what count when it comes time to distribute the profits! To volunteer, please call the PTA Thrift Shop’s Volunteer Coordinator, Emily Gordon, at 942-6565. How YOU can help. Please find one or more ways you can help promote the PTA Thrift Shop.    - Shop at the stores.    - Donate some “good stuff.”    - Volunteer in the stores, at a Work Night or at a trailer sort.    - Be a PTA Thrift Shop Class Rep for your child’s class. PTA Thrift Shop work is a fun way to meet other involved members of the Chapel Hill/Carrboro school community. Volunteers can be parents, family members, friends, and teachers. Let’s Get Started!! There are several PTA Thrift Shop events specifically assigned to your schools in the upcoming months of this school year. Please find the attached calendar as a guide to those events. We need a strong contingent of volunteers right away to get off to a good start this year. You will receive more details from your School or Class Reps. Thanks in advance for your help! Also, if you have specific questions about what we do here at the PTA Thrift Shop, or you would just like a tour, please contact Executive Director, Barbara Jessie-Black at 942-6565 or bjblack@bellsouth.net. We look forward to a great year with your support!!! Remember….SHOP... SAVE… SUPPORT!!!