Wondering what impact students and Lipscomb’s SALT (Serving and Learning Together) program are having on the Nashville community? I interviewed Bruce Krapf, operations manager of Thriftsmart, to see how his organization is impacted.
Tell me more about Thriftsmart and how it impacts the community.
Thriftsmart is a nonprofit thrift store that sells clothes and other household items.
“One hundred percent of our profits benefit four locally based charities that are making an impact here and internationally. These are New Hope Academy, The Belize Project, African Leadership and Mercy Community Healthcare. We’ve given close to $500,000 total to our charities so far.
We also host two programs in our Nashville store that help the refugee and immigrant community – namely sewing training through Sew for Hope and free ESL classes. Our GiveSmart program provides ThriftSmart gift cards to community organizations that help us collect donations, and through that, we’ve given over $200,000 in gift cards to local schools, churches and nonprofits to help them serve others in need.”
What impact has the SALT department had on Thriftsmart?
“Most notably are Dr. Capps’s training and development classes that have actually held class at our stores and produced training materials we could use in operations. Also, Professor Smith in the business communications area engaged her students to develop a crises management manual for Thriftsmart. The range of engagement is from the one-time volunteer student to the semester class that builds sustainable models and gives students real-world experiences.
I think this describes both our relationship and the impact of SALT on Thriftsmart and I just want to add that Lipscomb students are among the best volunteers we have at Thriftsmart—dedicated, committed and purpose-focused. We are very grateful for the relationship.”
What is the relationship between Thriftsmart and Lipscomb?
“Thriftsmart and Lipscomb SALT have a very good relationship dating back several years. Many times SALT students have been introduced to Thriftsmart and gone on to volunteer and make a real difference in operations. Additionally, relationships with faculty have developed through SALT and there have been several projects that classes have worked on for Thriftsmart in order to give us sustainable models that we can continue with.”
Students at Lipscomb are impacting the community by donating their time and skills. The simple step of volunteering for a day can lead to big impacts on the organization’s community involvement.
To see service-learning opportunities, see more information on Lipscomb’s SALT department page.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb University