The Gleaners

I'm participating in the Blogging from A-Z Challenge again this year. Today's post is brought to you by the letter G.

~*~*~*~*~

Presley loved the creepy doll.

When I was in my late teens/early twenties, my Grandma Wolf volunteered for an organization called The Gleaners.  The Gleaners ran their food pantry and thrift store in a little dilapidated building off of Hwy 99.  Back in those days, the sales floor was jam packed with items for sale and there was very little room to move around.  Still, it had an appeal that can't be found at your more mainstream thrift shops.  It was quaint and the volunteers seemed to genuinely enjoy their work.

When I moved back out to Oregon from Arkansas, I lived with my Grandma for a couple months.  That first month or so, I would go with her to the Gleaners and help out, or just sit and read if there wasn't anything for me to do.  That is where I got my busted-ass, but well-used copy of Love Machine by Jacqueline Susann and where I fell in love and got sick of Snickers cake.  I enjoyed having free range over the store, even if I rarely kept anything for myself.  It was fun to hear the conversations between the volunteers and customers, and there was so much interesting stuff to see.

At some point, Grandma stopped volunteering, the Gleaners' building was demolished, and the store was moved into in a tiny strip mall across the street from where it was originally located.  Every weekday, I drive by and see the sign for the Gleaners and think "I should stop in and check it out". Finally, I did.  The inventory was much more sparse than I remember, but there were quite a few cool little things to check out.  Presley found a Shrek bowl and some Toy Story board books, so I spent a whopping .50 cents on this endeavor.  There were actually some interesting books, but I don't have time to read these days, so I didn't bother trying to buy any.  The volunteers were super friendly and chatty, just like I remember.

I may not have found any undiscovered treasure for a nickel, and it may not be the way I remembered from my days with Grandma Wolf, but it was a great little shop to walk through on a random afternoon.