By Alice McCabe

A young mother and her two-year-old daughter lived in a trailer with a man who took good care of them for a while. But then he started beating them. The woman hadn’t the courage to move out until he broke the child’s arm. Then she fled to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Norcross.

Priests there advised the Saint Vincent de Paul Society of the woman’s plight. They made inquiries and phone calls and learned that she had a family in Virginia who would take care of her. SVP volunteers then took the mother and daughter to the bus station, purchased their tickets and put them on their way to a better life.

Funds for the bus fare for this heartrending case and for many others who need rent, utility bills paid, food and clothing come from the SVP “Take Your Pick” Thrift Store profits.

Located at 23 Jones St., Norcross, the store is halfway between the railroad depot and the log cabin up the hill by the firehouse. Everything sold there is donated and all sales people are volunteers. The only cost is $85 a month rent for the old five-room house.

Clothing, furniture, books, jewelry, sports equipment, bedding, curtains, dishes, small appliances -- they are all sold here at prices beginning as low as a dime.

Although the thrift store people like to see the needy able to outfit their school children for a couple of dollars -- and the poor are proud to be able to pay even a small amount -- they are not the only customers. Shoppers include retirees on fixed incomes, middle class and even well-to-do people who enjoy bargain hunting. Store hours are 10 to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 to 1 p.m. Saturday.

The shop has been operating with only five or six volunteer sales-people, but recently there’s been an effort to sign up 30 more volunteers so that each need serve only one day a month.

Take Your Pick has one room for large items, such as furniture -- which doesn’t stay long due to great demand -- and appliances. There is another room for children’s wear, which is usually where parents head first. It has all sizes from baby on up and includes Scout uniforms, stuffed toys, and school clothes. There is a room for men’s clothing and another for women’s wear.

The entrance hall holds a large desk for check-ins and check-outs. Wooden pegs along the wall, made by a former SVP volunteer who has since moved away, hold items that are being sorted according to size and season. Out of season clothing is kept in the old “kitchen” of the house. In summer, that might include a handsome fur coat, ski outfit, mittens and mufflers.

“The biggest thing we run up against (in helping the poor) is pride,” says Dick Carlson, store manager, who also has a full time job. “So many are ashamed to ask for help, they wait until they are desperate,” he says.

St. Vincent de Paul, who as Frederic Ozanam founded the society in Paris in 1933, understood the pride of the poor. In fact, his followers still adhere to his admonition:

“The poor are your masters, terribly sensitive and exacting manners...” The uglier and dirtier they be, the more unjust and insulting, the more you must love them.” He further advised, “You’ll find that charity is a heavy burden to carry, heavier than a bowl of soup or a full basket, but you will keep your gentleness and your smile. It is not enough to give soup and bread; this the rich can do. You are the servant of the poor, always smiling and always good humored.”

One of the good-humored people found folding, pricing and arranging merchandise and waiting on customers is Dot Howard, a non-Catholic who enjoys helping people. In her spare time she also puts together grab bags of small items that can sell for 25 cents to a dollar for party favors. Speaking of bags, the store can use all kinds -- onion, orange string and paper sacks. They’ll also accept odd items like auto safety belts, bowling ball bags, tennis racket holders, mailboxes, bathroom rugs and Great Aunt Lucy’s portrait.

A rope strung across a mantel in the women’s clothing room holds scarves, ties and belts. The mirror above reflects racks for dresses, neatly sized and priced anywhere from 50 cents to five dollars. Shoes, many of which have never been worn, line built-in shelves on one side. Hats are making their way back into the fashion scene so a few are found on pegs or in hatboxes.

There is equal variety in the men’s section, where some sharp-looking suits and jackets can be had for a few dollars and where you can find matching or coordinating shirts and ties and sweaters and shoes.

Although clothing is the mainstay of the store, furniture is the most in demand. It is hardest to get and fastest to go, SVP workers say. Large items such as televisions and radios are snapped up fast and those who donate are asked to tie a note on such items, telling what, if anything, is wrong so that it can be fixed before it is sold. Donations here are tax-deductible and workers will give a receipt to anyone who asks.

The recent rage for home garage sales has cut into the number of donations to the Thrift Store, but Carlson says, “Some people are gracious enough to give us what they don’t sell. We’ll come and pick up large items in a truck, but we encourage those who can to drop items off during our store hours.” (Don’t leave things on the front porch, he warns; they have been stolen from there, or scattered about.)

The average number of families helped by profits from the Thrift Store and donations is 15 to 20 monthly. Some families need help for quite awhile, but most are one-time needs, people temporarily down on their luck. A typical family is a father who has lost his job and needs food to feed several children and perhaps a utility bill paid until he gets on his feet.

Carlson explains that the SVP volunteers always go in twos to visit families that have asked for help and have been authenticated as truly needy. SVP works with other agencies, too, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Scottish Rite Hospital, Lions Club Eye Foundation, Easter Seals and, most of all, with Gwinnett County Family & Children’s Services. Where one agency leaves off, another takes over. For instance, SVP was helping a family who had a four-year-old girl with crossed eyes; SVP worked with Scottish Rite and Lions to arrange for a free operation on her eyes.

There is no requirement to be Catholic in order to get help from SVP. In fact, the Society, which spearheaded St. Patrick’s “Christmas 400” projects for the past two years, said that many of the 400-plus families and parishioners who were given Christmas dinner and gifts by parishioners were not Catholic.

The SVP with its spiritual director, Father Kenneth Bayer, MSFS, assistant pastor of St. Patrick’s, believe it is important to pray for the poor and do so during part of their twice-monthly meetings. Anyone willing to work for the poor is invited to become a member of the SVP conference, according to Marie Carlson, president. To volunteer, or to donate thrift store items, call her at 923-4019 or the store 447-9987.

“A Vincentian doesn’t judge the poor -- he is available to them.” This is the rule of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.