"This would make somebody a really good thermos," Opal Bumgarner said as she stocks the shelves at the Harris Regional Hospital Auxiliary Thrift Shop. Bumgarner is in her 32nd year of volunteering at the Thrift Shop, where sales over the years have contributed more than $1 million to WestCare Health System. - Herald photos by Rose Hooper
Whatever it takes to get the job done, Opal Bumgarner pushes back her sleeves and tackles it head on. It could be training a new volunteer to operate the cash register. Or it could be sorting, folding, hanging and pricing clothes. It might be assisting a handicapped worker with pairing shoes on a rack, helping an elderly lady carry donations from her car, or figuring up the week's shift schedule. Bumgarner even uses detective skills in tracking down the writer of a bad check or finding specific classroom supplies for an elementary school teacher. Her various jobs are equally matched by her many skills, co-workers say of Bumgarner, who is going on her 32nd year of volunteering at the Harris Regional Hospital Auxiliary Thrift Shop. She started volunteering back in 1971 when her son, Edward, entered high school. "I had gone to the multi-phasic clinic... that's when it was in the hospital, where X-ray is now, and Hattie Monteith told me she needed some volunteers," said Bumgarner. "I thought with my son starting high school, it would be a good time for me to try it." Her husband, L.C., who worked night shifts, was another factor. "He'd try to sleep during the day and any noise I'd make would wake him up, so I decided it was best if I just got out of the house," said Bumgarner, whose home is behind Bryson Trucking Co. Bumgarner's long-term hospital volunteering began with two days a week at the multi-phasic clinic. "My main job was hooking up suction cups for people having an EKG," she said. "When the clinics moved to the health department, they wanted me to work in the office there, but I told them I yakked too much to be at the front desk, so I moved over to the Thrift Shop." The Thrift Shop moved to its present home in 1973 when W.C. Hennessee negotiated the purchase of the Nichol's home on Sylva's Walnut Street. Until that time, the nomadic shop traveled from a vacant room in the Ritz Theatre, the basement of an old service station on Mill Street (which is now Moody Funeral Home's parking lot), the foyer of the old Northwestern Bank, the American Legion and the old annex of the First Baptist Church. This lead volunteer who helped the Thrift Shop raise $89,000 last year remembers her first day at the cash register. "The lady who ran the cash register suddenly felt sick and weak and had to sit down. She told me to get over there and run the register, and I told her I didn't know how," she said. "I'd worked one years ago at Velt's Cafe, but that was the old-fashioned kind." Bumgarner got a little pad and wrote down the lady's step-by-step instructions of "what to do and what not to do. I just kept that sheet of paper in my pocket and referred to it every time I had to use the register. Pretty soon it got to where I didn't need that piece of paper any more." Sales at the register have escalated over the years. From 1974-1996 the thift store averaged $30,000. Since 1997, the figure has risen to $77,000 a year and a whopping $89,000 last year. The grand total of their fund-raising efforts is well over $1 million. Last year volunteers donated more than $75,000 toward the 26-bed Alzheimer's/Dementia Care Unit at Mountain Trace Nursing Center. They have recently purchased three new defibrillators, each costing $11,000, for WestCare. This year's goal includes $61,000 for a new WestCare EMS ambulance. "We sell things cheap, too. I mean, some of our items are just a dime or a quarter," Bumgarner said. "That tells you the volume of business that we do." Clothing is a big seller, according to Bumgarner. "We sell a lot of Śchoke straps,' too that's what I call ties." Born and raised in Wilmot community, Bumgarner knows just about everybody who comes through the Thrift Store doors. "Meeting people, that's probably the best part of the job; I especially enjoy the children," she said. "They may not remember your name, but they will remember your smile." "Opal is a special lady," said Phena Lynn, who has been a Thrift Stop customer for eight years. "Every time I came in feeling bad, Opal smiles and make you feel good. You might not be in a good mood when you come in, but you sure are when you leave." Co-workers say Opal is "a great kidder and loves to play practical jokes." "When they try to pull one over on me, I tell them they might as well hush; you can't get ahead of me," said Bumgarner. "Opal is such a hard-working gal," said co-worker Marie Treadway. Other co-workers applaud Bumgarner's "patience and understanding." "The Thrift Stop takes a lot to keep up; I just help out best I can," Bumgarner said modestly. Visitors can see her smiling face Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. At other times, when the shop is closed, Bumgarner is behind the closed doors "picking up, putting up and straightening up" and still smiling. |