Margaret Goossen wears her identity not on her sleeve but on the front of a T-shirt that appropriately came from a donation to St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store in Clarkston, where she turns trash into treasure that helps people in need.
The black T-shirt is bedazzled with her nickname “Jewelry Lady.” Goossen, a full-time volunteer at the store, runs the jewelry department and also oversees collectibles and antiques. During the holiday season, she creates framed Christmas trees made from broken pieces of jewelry. The works of art are highly sought after and sell from about $30 to more than $100. The proceeds are pumped into the Christmas Connection program that provides gifts and other items to children from low-income families.
“The money goes straight to our community. Not a penny goes to anything else,” she said.
The jewelry trees are displayed in antique frames and often take on a theme based on the color of the pieces she uses or a genre like ones made from Western pieces.
“The most popular trees I make are Western. I can’t even put them down. They are bought out of my hand,” she said.
Goossen has worked at the thrift store since 2013. She became involved when the Canyon Church of Clarkston, of which she is a member, linked with St. Vincent de Paul because of its established charitable operation. She soon began work in the jewelry department sorting through the heaps of donated items that have only grown. Her job once took just a few hours a week.
“We have so much jewelry coming in it’s a full-time job now,” she said. “A very small thing has become a major operation.”
Much of the jewelry and collectibles are put out on the floor for sale. But some of it is set aside and sold via online auction sites with the idea of seeking the highest returns possible to keep charitable programs funded. In addition to Christmas Connection, St. Vincent’s also runs a food pantry in Clarkston and the Feed the Kids programs that sends food and other items home with students in need at select Clarkston schools.
Goossen made her first tree when one came in as a donation. It wasn’t in good shape, so she took it a apart and remade it. She then decided to make more. They where a hit.
“The response has been so overwhelming it just kind of blew me out of the water,” she said.
In addition to selling them at the store, Goossen makes two extra large pieces each Christmas. One each is raffled off at the Clarkston and Lewiston stores. This year’s raffles brought in more than $1,000.
She begins crafting them around Halloween but has vowed to start making them all year long to keep up with the heavy demand during the Christmas season. While sorting jewelry she squirrels away the broken pieces and separates them by color and says the staff members at the store help her spot interesting pieces as they come in.
“They are my eyes,” she said.
Goossen holds up a necklace made of costume jewelry as an example of a piece that will one day likely make its way into one of her trees. It’s in great shape but is missing one stone.
“I can’t sell this but I can break it all up and make a beautiful Christmas tree,” she said.
The trees are a bit of an online craft fad but Goossen said she has an advantage over others who make them.
“I have everything here. It’s all about the product,” she said. “People can make these trees but they don’t have the product. I have everything here.”
When crafting she chooses pieces that are eye catching.
“I go with bling. There are a lot of bling in my trees. And it has to be in good condition,” she said.
Goossen also makes angles and sometimes lets her creativity lead the way. For example, she covered a mannequin head used to display wigs with broken gold chains. The result is a modern art piece that resembles an Egyptian relic.
She heaps praise on the organization, its employees, other volunteers and those who donate.
“We are so blessed,” she said. “Our community has really stepped up and helped our community in need.”
Volunteering is addictive she said.
“The key to volunteering, in my opinion, is the joy, the tremendous joy, that is in your heart and that is what you can’t get just by talking about it,” she said. “You have to do it. That is why people are hooked on volunteering, your heart is just filled with joy.”
Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.
Holiday Helpers
Today’s story marks the fourth in a series set to run periodically through December highlighting people in the Lewiston Tribune readership area whose generosity of spirit and willingness to take action — at the holidays or year-round — contribute to the community.