The Brown Elephant, Chicago area.

[murielm99]

I'm sure some of you already know about these places:

http://www.howardbrown.org/hb_brownelephant.asp

The resale shops of the Howard Brown Health Center raise a lot of money to help uninsured and underinsured AIDS patients. This might be a good place to shop for Christmas gifts.

My daughter just came back from there with a beautiful beige 100% wool coat. It is a man's coat actually, but it is warm and looks great on her. She paid so little for it that she left them a donation.

Many of us are downsizing our Christmases. We all have too much crap sitting around our houses as it is. We are sick of Chinese junk filled with lead. If you have a Brown Elephant near you, check it out.

[mopinko]

1. great stores

one thing about chicago, you can get anything here. i am leaving to go thrift shopping in a few minutes here. brown elephant is a great one. lots of others that use the proceeds to do great work, also.
my kids all get a box every year from t.s. santa.

[murielm99]

2. Even our local resale shop,

which is much smaller, uses their proceeds to do good work.

They support our summer reading program at the library. They give some of their profit to the local food pantry. And they honor vouchers from poor families, for winter coats and other needed items.

[pearl]

3. Yes indeed

I just got back from a year down in Texas and got a beautiful Liz Claiborne coat for like
$20. I've been shopping there for years