“In winter there’s not enough stuff, it’s slow with knickknacks and furniture. The nicknacks are a big thing. Our Mankato store gets a lot of clothes so we can call them, and they will send some over. During Christmas, we got a lot of Christmas trees, and had to turn away furniture then, but we are looking for more furniture now,” said Gail Janni manager, of the MVAC Thrift & More.

MVAC is an acronym for Minnesota Action Valley Council, which according to their website is a non-profit community agency providing resources and opportunities that empower people in low-wage work.

“The MVAC Thrift & More store is a nonprofit. Money [profits] goes into multiple programs–there’s a fuel assistance program to help people pay for utilities for the winter, a head start program for children ages 3 to 5 years, and a senior program, too,” said Janni, “MVAC is not just in Brown County. It’s in nine counties and all of the programs service those counties.”

On Broadway, just across the street from MVAC, is Treasure Haus Resale Shop, which is also a nonprofit.

Household items like lamps are some of the various items for sale at MVAC Thrift & More.

“Seventy-five percent of profits go to MVL (Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School), the other twenty-five percent of profits go to non-profit entities that a panel votes for at the end of year,” said Dawn Weisensel, Treasure Haus’s manager.

“We never get too much of anything. We just try to get it out to the floor quicker. Items only stay in the building for one year. We take holiday items, like Christmas, all year long. We never seem to have enough men’s and boy’s cloths; those just go quicker. We’d love any name brands, or higher end things,” said Weisensel.

“We have about 100 volunteers that work here. But sometimes they only work during summer, sometimes just an hour here or there, and there are some regulars. The average age of volunteers is seventy-five,” said Weisensel.

Their donation room is organized into sections for each type of item: there’s a testing station to ensure items work properly, a textile station with multiple labeled boxes, a Christmas area, a desk for accessories, and of course the little counter where patrons can drop off donations.

“We get good stuff in,” said Volunteer Karen Larsen of a bedazzled women’s hat.

Volunteer Karen Larsen shows the different types of accessories, like hats, which Treasure Haus receives as donations.

Of donations, both MVAC and Treasure Hause agree that they cannot take dirty or broken items.

“There’s no way to wash clothes,” said Weisensel. “We used to have a volunteer take clothes home and wash them in her own machine, but there’s just no way, now. That was a long time ago.”

Donations can be made for MVAC Monday through Saturday 10 am until 4 pm, or until full, and for Treasure Haus from 11 am to 3 pm Monday through Saturday.

“We love our job,” said volunteer Judy Garamentz of Treasure Haus Resale Shop.

If you’d like to volunteer, for Treasure Haus Resale Shop, you can call and talk to a manager. For MVAC those interested in volunteering can fill out a form online at https://www.mnvac.org or call the store and ask for Gail.

Volunteer Lorraine Diel tests every product received by Treasure Haus before it is resold to be sure it works properly.

“We like to start volunteers on Sundays for about 2 hours. We currently have five volunteers,” said Janni, manager of MVAC.

Treasure Hause Resale Shop has many different displays of donated goods; this one has a cottage theme.

Volunteer Judy Garamentz sorts Christmas donations, which Treasure Hause Resale Shop takes all year long.