05/01/2026
Some of you know that my daughter is a big fan of thrifting. Every Saturday she and I go on an "adventure" as she calls it, typically hitting 2-5 thrift stores within a couple hours' drive of our house, rotating shops each week. She goes with her dad another day during the week, and sometimes convinces one of her caregivers to take her another day.
She has a collection and a list of things she is on the hunt for, and I appreciate the lower prices and the fact that thrift shops benefit the environment and keep things out of landfills.
Most of these shops are run by Christian churches. They play Christian music, and the kids' book sections, which are among her favorite things to peruse, often have Christian books - the photo here was taken last weekend, and you can see a number of obviously Christian kids books. We rarely find mythology books, and we've never found a witchy kids book, even at the secular shops.
They are happy to take our money. But if we were in need and went to the charities that are funded by these shops, the likelihood of us getting help, because of who we are, is small. And we have friends and family who've definitely had that experience. Which leaves me feeling some sort of way about shopping there or donating to these places.
That's a huge part of why we started Hestia's - we want our community to have a space to donate things they're not using, in a way that supports our community (and doesn't leave people out just because of who they are or what they look like).
So, go check out our items for sale (our site, https://hestiasthrift.shop and our ReRaiseIt site, where you can list things that you have in order to sell them and help us if you're not close enough to donate directly). Donate to help us fund a storage unit for now until we're closer to making the transition to an actual store front. Volunteer to help list items and/or to help ship items. Like and Share - tell your friends about us.
