Cramped thrift shop is quietly a key cog on Camano Island

CAMANO ISLAND — Behind Second Chance Thrift Shop, volunteers search for space to store donated clothes, dishes, decorations and toys among items already piled high under portable canopies.

The makeshift back room is crowded. Some days, volunteers turn away donations because there isn’t space.

The Camano Senior Services Association is launching a $525,000 fundraising campaign to build a new 4,000-square-foot store next to the existing building off Highway 532. The goal is to increase sales at the shop, which provides 42 percent of the budget for the island’s nonprofit senior and community center.

The center is the hub of senior services on the island. People gather three days a week for lunch and Meals on Wheels delivers more than 5,000 dishes a year to people who can’t get there. The classrooms are used most days for activities: painting, gardening, cooking, tai chi and book clubs. People can borrow walkers, wheelchairs and crutches, and staff can connect visitors with other services. The center hosts the only daycare in the area for adults with disabilities so caregivers can get some free time, program coordinator Jessie Walker said.

Walker also helps at the thrift shop. Having places where people can volunteer or get care is vital for the island, she said.

“It’s the domino effect,” she said. “It doesn’t just affect one person.”

The center’s annual budget is about $750,000, director Karla Jacks said. It comes from donations, event rentals, membership fees and thrift shop sales. In past years, money from Island County made up about 4 percent of the budget. That ended this year.

The association aims to increase sales so the thrift shop covers 52 percent of the center’s expenses rather than 42 percent. Planning started three years ago, and preliminary designs would double the store’s size.

“We’re really quite desperate for more space here,” manager Roxanne Robertson-Moore said.

Second Chance has been in the same building for 20 years. The portable “back room” is a fairly new addition. The Christmas barn — a beige storage shed — fills up by April. The furniture barn is a maze of tables, chairs and dressers.

“I think we help people move things they don’t need into the hands of people who need them,” Robertson-Moore said. “For people out here, there really isn’t a lot. You’d have to go to Smokey Point or Mount Vernon for some of these things.”

Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.

Learn more

The Camano Senior Services Association has about 1,600 members. Anyone can use the center, but only members get voting rights when it comes to planning. Membership is $30 a year, $50 for a family.

To become a member or donate, go to www.camanocenter.org/ways-to-give, or call the center at 360-387-0222.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett mall renderings from Brixton Capital. (Photo provided by the City of Everett)
Topgolf at the Everett Mall? Mayor’s hint still unconfirmed

After Cassie Franklin’s annual address, rumors circled about what “top” entertainment tenant could be landing at Everett Mall.

Everett
Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Police: Teen in stolen car flees cops, causes crash in Lynnwood

The crash blocked traffic for over an hour at 176th Street SW. The boy, 16, was arrested on felony warrants.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.