EVERETT — For two decades Melody Gibson expected a certain reaction from her husband whenever she talked about starting a thrift store.
Her husband, Mike Gibson, rolled his eyes at the idea until last summer, when it started to become a reality.
At that time, the recession already was leaving a serious financial mark on Operation Lookout, an Everett-based nonprofit group the Gibsons founded in 1984 to help find missing and abducted children. She was also upset that the Caring For Our Children Foundation she started, to raise money for underfunded charities, wasn’t able to give as much in grant money as in previous years.
Gibson, 60, couldn’t just let things fall apart.
“When I saw there was a chance there really wasn’t going to be a go-forward day I said to Mike, ‘That’s it. Don’t roll your eyes one more time. That thrift store is going to happen.’ ”
In three months, Gibson went from dreaming about having a thrift store to becoming a general manager of one.
She frequently passed an antique store on Evergreen Way during her commute to the Operation Lookout office. When the store closed, she and other members of the Caring For Our Children Foundation thought it would be the perfect location for their thrift store.
Last October, the foundation used a $2,000 donation to open NXT 2 NU Family Thrift Shoppe at 5612 Evergreen Way.
At first glance, NXT 2 NU is one place where people can find children’s clothes for $2.49, golf clubs, antique sewing machines and an array of kitchen utensils and household gadgets.
Customers can spend hours searching through the store for furniture, craft supplies or holiday decor.
“It’s the fun of the hunt and there are people who will come in here and shop for an hour of two going through everything they can find,” Gibson said. “In a thrift store, you never know what you’re going to get.”
Crystal Spears, who works at the store, agrees.
“One of our mottoes is look up, under and in, and the reason why is because everything has something in it,” she said.
However, the store’s purpose is different than other thrift stores.
The small store with items stacked up the walls exists to help other underfunded charities that support at-risk or needy children.
The goal, Gibson said, is to use the store’s profits to provide grants to charities and nonprofits worldwide that are approved by the board members of the Caring For Our Children Foundation.
The foundation was started in 2001 as a way to provide funding for Operation Lookout, Gibson said. Over time, the foundation’s members decided they wanted to provide financial assistance to other charities that help children.
Managing the store means Gibson isn’t able to spend as much time as she once did working with Operation Lookout. But she likes how the organization’s office is just up the street from the thrift store and stays involved with Operation Lookout by voluntarily handling some administration work in her office at NXT 2 NU.
The arrangement is working well said Mike Gobson, who is head of case work at Operation Lookout.
“I think Melody likes to describe those in the Caring For Our Children Foundation as a bunch of old broads who like to give away money,” he said. “We want to see them give away more money and not just to Operation Lookout.”
The store’s sign still needs to be taken out of the shop’s window and placed above traffic, Gibson said. The store hasn’t made a profit yet but she expects it’ll happen once more people know about the store and its purpose.
“We still have bills to pay,” she said. “A new dynamic of overhead came with this and there are some real hard expenses but I really want it to all become grant money. We can do it.”
Her husband is behind her.
“She’s been like a duck out of water, and now she’s found her pond,” he said. “I’m proud of her.”
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491, adaybert@heraldnet.com.
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