Senior Center Thinks Outside of the Box

Who doesn’t like a bargain? It’s hard to resist a pair of jeans, a vintage flower vase, wall décor, or a pair of shoes for a dollar, and even harder for just loose pocket change. The Redlands Community Senior Center makes bargain shopping a breeze every Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. outside of the Redlands Community Senior Center. The center is located on Lugonia Avenue and accepts used goods donations and puts the items on display at the “Thrifty Boutique.” “I just bought this shirt,” Perlita Velasco, 67, of Redlands said as she showed her friends her recent purchase. “I got it for one dollar right there in the office,” Velasco said. Velasco, like many of other seniors, visits the center to have lunch every afternoon. The center offers seniors with a hot lunch every afternoon for a suggested donation of three dollars, but seniors can pay whatever they can afford. For five dollars non-seniors can also have lunch. “I bring something every Thursday because I figure somebody can use it. It makes me happy when [my donations] go to somebody who can use it, I know a lot of seniors don’t have a lot of money, and they can have it for whatever they can afford,” said Donna Kenney-Cash, a retired special ed teacher, as she sewed in the Thursday quilting class. Liz Thurman bought the store-bought quilt that Kenney-Cash donated. “I plan to give it to a cousin that needs a bedspread. Some people don’t look, but I do, I find good things," she said. Throughout the day, visitors, coming to the center to play bingo or meet up with friends and even people walking by the center stopped to look through the table of donated goods that make up the thrifty boutique. Some for the first time, others returning customers. Friends, Mila Gutierrez, Redlands, a regular boutique visitor, brought her friend Marie Cruz, to the boutique to take a look at the items available. “They have good stuff and it’s just for a donation,” Gutierrez said. Her favorite find was a Virgin Mary statue that she now displays proudly in her home. The two women looked through the clothes and purchased a few items on their way out of the center. “It’s all very nice,” Marie Cruz, Redlands, said as she looked through the donated blouses. All the proceeds from the Thrifty Boutique go into a petty cash account that allows the center to have extra activities such as, birthday and holiday parties. Donated items are accepted Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the center. When donated items are not sold, they are put away for the next event. When items stock up and do not sell, the donated goods are then donated to Goodwill.