OUT and ABOUT with Seeker Chick Mai-Liis: I don’t have too many bad habits, or at least I don’t think I do but the one that I know I do have is that I love thrifting.
Basically I don’t always have to buy anything because living in a tiny house, I don’t really have room for more stuff but when I do buy anything from a thrift store I know that I am donating money for a good cause, so it may be a bit of a bad habit but it is turned into a positive one when I can help out somebody else.
Anyway on the subject of thrift stores, this past week I attended The Knox Church fashion show hosted at Lancaster Outreach – Carefor.
During one of my “Retail Therapy” sessions at Opportunity Knox thrift store, (located at 1 Molan Street, Lancaster and open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9 am to 4 pm) one of the volunteers, Bonnie, known as “the Personal Shopper” approached me to tell me about their upcoming fashion show and asked if I would like to attend and take some photos for the Seeker.
She gave me a bit of history of how this all started, beginning at 14 Victoria Street at the Seniors Building with a fashion show consisting of 8 people to try and get people to socialize in the common room. It was such a great success and everyone had so much fun that now the 8 people modeling team has increased to 15 people and they moved to a larger location and it has become an annual event.
Tickets were made and at $10 a person the staff of Carefor provide and serve sandwiches, veggie platters, desserts, coffee and tea while you get to watch a fashion show with clothing from the Opportunity Knocks Thrift Store plus you also get entertainment by a comedian. Bonnie told me that the 40 tickets available were sold out within 10 days and after seeing the fashion show I can understand why.
Yes, I stop in at the thrift shop quite often and see all the well organized clothing and footwear etc. for men women and children but when you see it put together and modeled it’s quite exciting and makes you realize that one person’s donations are another person’s fashion outfit.
The ladies modelling, who are all volunteers at the thrift shop, told me that throughout the year they pick out clothing that catches their eye and put it in the back and then when it’s time for the fashion show they go in and put together their outfits.
The MC for this fashion show was Barbara Jacobs who gave us lots of great info about Knox Church where she is a Pastor while showing off her beautiful outfit that she purchased from the thrift store about 12 years ago when she was the first manager there.
There were 4 categories for the Fall/Winter fashion: Casual, Coats, Formal – Black and White and Phyllis Diller Bling with a touch of Dolly Parton. During the breaks we were entertained by volunteer Lionel, who does stand up comedy under the name Joe Banks
I always say that “everything happens for a reason and we are where we are meant to be at certain times in our lives” and the amazing part for me was when I pulled into the parking lot I saw one of my dear friends who I worked with at Astro Printing many many years ago. She told me that at 11 am that morning as she was working in her garden she got a phone call saying that somebody had cancelled coming to the fashion show and a spot opened up and would she like it, so of course she threw on some “not gardening clothes” and headed over and I got to catch up with Janet which was wonderful!
Barbara the MC spoke about all the great activities that Carefor puts on for seniors and the importance for people getting together and socializing. I was so happy that I came to this event and met so many wonderful people and laughed and smiled throughout the entire fashion show because the models were so entertaining as was the comedian.
All in all it was a wonderful afternoon and I believe they are now looking at another fashion show for Spring/Summer items early next year.
In the meantime check out Opportunity Knocks Thrift Store (located at 1 Molan Street, Lancaster and open Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9 am to 4 pm) because even though you walk in not needing anything I can guarantee you that once you see their amazing prices, you will walk out with a whole bunch of items that “you never knew that you needed”!
Enjoy the photos but an advance warning, there are a lot of photos as I did not want to miss a single outfit as they were all so well put together and showcase what Opportunity Knocks Thrift Store has to offer.
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