Thrift stores: Society of St. Vincent dePaul vs. Salvation Army vs. Goodwill vs. Purple Heart

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Do you make any distinctions between these organizations when you donate items or shop at their thrift stores? Nobody can deny that all four do wonderful corporal works of mercy, but there are religious differences. The Salvation Army, many people seem to forget, is a Protestant ecclesial community.

From the St. Vincent dePaul website:
“Inspired by Gospel values, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a Catholic lay organization, leads women and men to join together to grow spiritually by offering person-to-person service to those who are needy and suffering in the tradition of its founder, Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, and patron, St. Vincent de Paul.”

From the Salvation Army website:
“The Salvation Army is a worldwide evangelical Christian church with its own distinctive governance and practice…We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and that they only constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.”

From the Goodwill website:
“Goodwill was founded in 1902 in Boston by Rev. Edgar J. Helms, a Methodist minister and early social innovator.” (I don’t think that Goodwill is associated with the Methodist ecclesial community any more, however.)

Purple Heart seems to be a secular organization.

All things being equal, I think we should support the Society of St. Vincent dePaul before the others.
 
Purple Heart was from the militray order of the purple heart, originally to help militray veterans, both in giving them somethign to do, and helping the community. That a real 100,000 mile fly over, but in short, it is totally secular.
 
Actually, I don’t know if the Salvation Army even uses a Trinitarian formula for baptism, so what would that make them? They do good work for addiction treatment and a number of other things, so I will give them clothing donations if there is no other group nearby that I prefer. The same goes for Goodwill which does help with disabled people. I prefer to aid Catholic Charities and other such groups first, if possible.
 
Lepanto said:
All things being equal, I think we should support the Society of St. Vincent dePaul before the others.
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Yes, I do that. It’s been fairly recent development for me though. But then, I was living in an area where all things were not equal, ie, there were no SSVdP stores to donate to or shop at. Where I grew up, that’s still the case.
 
my cousin is an SA officer who has managed red shield stores for many years in several cities. budget, administration, operations etc. of the stores, and the shelters they support, is kept entirely separate from the local corps (the actual SA worship community). Insofar as the stores give employment to residents of the shelters and support their work with addicts and alcoholics, some of their work with these people does have a strong spiritual component and evangelization which of course is in their faith tradition (actually somewhat non-denom) but no, your money is not going directly to advance their religion. there have been cases in local situations where this divide has been breached due to bad management, but the SA addresses and corrects these abuses when they occur. This happens most often when local corps divert Christmas kettle collections which are supposed to be used for the SA relief and charitable outreaches to their local worship center, but when that does happen it does so in violation of the SA policy.

SA, at least where she lived, chose to remove itself from United Way because of disagreement on how UW funds were distributed among member agencies and in protest of UW support of what SA considered to be anti-Christian programs.

Goodwill has no religious affliation currently, don’t know its UW status.

Purple heart used to employ wounded vets to collect, sort and distrubute its collections, which was its purpose, and to my knowledge has no religious affiliation.
 
In my community, the Salvation Army is the only such organization available. Most of the Churches in town support their charitable efforts and even put in time ringing the bells for the kettles. People from my parish do this as well. My Church houses the local food shelf which is an effort served by people from almost every other church in town. We believe and worship differently, but when it comes to serving the poor, the widow, and the orphan we are one. 🙂
 
I would prefer to donate to a local Catholic homeless mission rather than Goodwill, because in donating to the local Catholic homeless mission I feel as though the donation will actually be given for free to those in need. Goodwill sells the donated goods… and although that helps to pay for the salary of their employees, I would still personally prefer for the donated items to be given away for free to those who couldn’t afford to shop at Goodwill. Also, Goodwill isn’t exactly for the poor, as people from all financial situations shop there, and it is subject to bargain scouting. I suppose my point is that Goodwill is a store, rather than a charity that gives the donation away 100% for free. With the local Catholic homeless mission, I feel confident that any donation is indeed a donation, and that the items will be given to homeless people at no cost.

I agree though, I would definately choose St. Vincent De Paul above Goodwill, because I know that they have a voucher system for those who cannot afford to pay.
 
I have lived in many parishes with an active St. Vincent de Paul, but none that ran a shelter or thrift store, so can’t comment about St. Vincent. here the food pantry is supplied in part by the local food bank, and there are rules and regs as to who can have that food and how much. we are able to be much more generous with food, clothing and items donated by parishioners. If there is a comparable Catholic charity in town doing what SA does-shelter, rehab and training for alcoholics-- or Goodwill etc. I will support it. If not I will support anyone who is doing good work and lobby the diocesan organizations to play a bigger role.
 
The Salvation Army tends to have the best selection, followed by Goodwill and then by de Paul (although out of the two VdP shops I’ve been to, the one I remember best was smack in the middle of the ghettos of Flint, Michigan, so my perception may be a little off there). I’ve never seen a Purple Heart thrift store.

Goodwill is a bit too commercial for my liking these days. Still, you can get some neat finds at all of them, though the Salvation Army leads the pack there as far as my experience thrift-shopping goes.
 
I give to whoever calls me first. I don’t restrict my charity to Catholics only or Catholic organizations. Purple Heart goes out of their way to pick stuff up at my home. Convenience is important these days.
 
Mirdath said:
The Salvation Army tends to have the best selection, followed by Goodwill and then by de Paul (although out of the two VdP shops I’ve been to, the one I remember best was smack in the middle of the ghettos of Flint, Michigan, so my perception may be a little off there). I’ve never seen a Purple Heart thrift store.

Goodwill is a bit too commercial for my liking these days. Still, you can get some neat finds at all of them, though the Salvation Army leads the pack there as far as my experience thrift-shopping goes.
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There are no VdP shops in my area. The SA is rather pricey, plus I’m not crazy about the idea that their clients who work in the shop get only meals and a bed in return but no pay – they should get something.

Goodwill has as good, if not better selection at better prices.
Plus we have a thrift shop at a local Presbyterian church run by very nice ladies. For some reason Catholic stuff keeps showing up there – right after we moved I found a crucifix and a Madonna statue there.

Never heard of Purple heart.
 
Last time I checked, the president of the SA is a multi multi millionaire.
 
Dragoro said:
Last time I checked, the president of the SA is a multi multi millionaire.
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do you have proof for this allegation? SA does not have a president, their leadership and ministry are labelled as grades of officers, such as in the military, Capt. Major etc.
 
Why does it matter where your charity goes as long as it helps the poor? Read the letter to the chruch of Ephesus in Revelations. I didn’t say you’re supposed to just help the members of your own Church but help everyone. This is Christian love.
 
La-Petite-Fleur said:
…Goodwill sells the donated goods… and although that helps to pay for the salary of their employees, I would still personally prefer for the donated items to be given away for free to those who couldn’t afford to shop at Goodwill. Also, Goodwill isn’t exactly for the poor, as people from all financial situations shop there, and it is subject to bargain scouting. I suppose my point is that Goodwill is a store, rather than a charity that gives the donation away 100% for free.
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Goodwill uses its stores to finance career centers to assist people in finding gainful employment.
Their purpose is not to give goods away, but to assist people (for free) in finding meaningful employment.

It would not be a realistic thing to try to compare the work goodwill does with other organizations that freely give goods away. The services are not the same, the comparison is apples and oranges.
 
rwoehmke said:
In my community, the Salvation Army is the only such organization available. Most of the Churches in town support their charitable efforts and even put in time ringing the bells for the kettles. People from my parish do this as well. My Church houses the local food shelf which is an effort served by people from almost every other church in town. We believe and worship differently, but when it comes to serving the poor, the widow, and the orphan we are one. 🙂
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Our community is also a one organization town: SVdP. Salvation Army comes in and does the kettle at Christmas time, but I don’t think that money stays here in town. What our town does have is the Christmas Telethon, with all the money being handed over to the largest of our 3 Catholic Parishes. It is known that they provide housing and food to the undocumented (for one night), and help with bills (light, rent, water) to anyone who comes and applies, regardless of church affiliation, or lack thereof.
 
When I have donated large items (furniture, TVs), I have given it to the Salvation Army. The SVDP does not come to one’s house and pick up these items, but the Salvation Army does. I am not able to haul these things to a drop-off location, since I do not own a truck, nor does anyone I know. I would rather donate it to a Protestant organization than throw it in the trash. I donate blankets and bedding to the SVDP when they have “blanket Sunday” at my parish.

As for shopping, I go to thrift stores that are Catholic (SVDP), Protestant (Salvation Army) or secular (Goodwill) and purchase whatever I like. If they have something I like, I will buy it. I have found the nicest clothes at Goodwill.
 
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