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By Maggie FitzRoy When Beaches Emergency Assistance Ministry (BEAM) opened a thrift store in Jacksonville Beach nine years ago, Ponte Vedra Beach resident Dottie Gandee volunteered to work there. The store, called 7 North, at 318 7th<\/sup> Ave. North, is stocked with like-new items, including men and women\u2019s clothing, furniture, d\u00e9cor, linens, and jewelry. Everything in every store has been donated by people in the community. And the stores draw customers from around the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo courtesy Maggie FitzRoy<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mary Quinn Shalz, Dottie Gandee, and Gayle Enzel volunteer at 7 North, a BEAM thrift store in Jacksonville Beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Maggie FitzRoymail@floridanewsline.com When Beaches Emergency Assistance Ministry (BEAM) opened a thrift store in Jacksonville Beach nine years ago, Ponte Vedra Beach resident Dottie Gandee volunteered to work there. The store, called 7 North, at 318 7th Ave. North, is stocked with like-new items, including men and women\u2019s clothing, furniture, d\u00e9cor, linens, and jewelry.Gandee is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11745","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ponte-vedra"},"yoast_head":"\n
mail@floridanewsline.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gandee is one of more than 100 volunteers from around the Beaches, including many from Ponte Vedra Beach, who help run BEAM\u2019s thrift stores.
\u201cWe couldn\u2019t do it without them,\u201d says thrift store manager Jenny Gaynor.
7 North, which resembles a small attractively laid-out department store, \u201cis basically volunteer run,\u201d says Gaynor, one of the few paid employees. \u201cSpecialty volunteers price items and everybody has their niche, including the cashiers. They are the face, the ambassadors.\u201d
Gandee works the cash register every Tuesday afternoon and enjoys volunteering for BEAM so much that she also takes a shift at the nonprofit organization\u2019s food bank one day a week.
\u201cI like to volunteer for an organization that is very effective and a good part of the community,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m very impressed with the organization and the people here. It\u2019s an inspiration to me to be around people who are happily doing something good.\u201d
Founded in 1985, BEAM\u2019s mission is to provide emergency assistance and a bridge to financial stability for Beaches area residents in six zip codes. The organization provides food, financial, and special initiative assistance, and sales from its three Jacksonville Beach thrift stores provide 40 percent of the revenue stream. In addition to 7 North \u2014 the most popular store \u2014 Shetter, at 1110 Shetter Ave., stocks tools, outdoor items, medical and sports equipment and electronics. Another store at 1147 1st<\/sup> Ave. South, called 1 South, carries infant, children, and maternity clothing, crafts, toys, books, and games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ponte Vedra Beach resident Gayle Enzel was looking to volunteer somewhere meaningful, and after hearing about BEAM from her friend and neighbor, Dottie Gandee, began working at 7 North in 2019. She works behind the cash register every Wednesday afternoon, which keeps her busy because senior citizens get a 10 percent discount on \u201cSenior Day\u201d Wednesdays.
\u201cWe have a lot of high-end merchandise, and the store is beautifully decorated,\u201d Enzel says. \u201cFor the most part, the stream of customers at the cash register is constant. There\u2019s a customer every single minute.\u201d
Mary Quinn Shalz, also of Ponte Vedra Beach, has volunteered for BEAM for many years. Her mother, Kay, helped found the organization.
\u201cThings are donated every single day,\u201d Shalz says. \u201cWe call this store the Neiman Marcus of Thrift. Stuff doesn\u2019t stay around long at all. We only put out things that are in good condition.\u201d
Donated items can be dropped off at the back of the store, where there is a large loading dock and storage area. \u201cA lot happens before items go out into the store,\u201d Shalz says, including sorting, cleaning, and organizing by volunteers who specialize in specific items.
Prices are so fair and affordable that \u201cthere\u2019s about a 60 to 65 percent turnover of items on display every week,\u201d Gandee says. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s difficult to volunteer here because there are so many things to buy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n